Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A swift, witty reply.
- n. Conversation marked by the exchange of witty retorts. See Synonyms at wit1.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A ready, pertinent, and witty reply.
- n. Such replies in general or collectively; the kind of wit involved in making sharp and ready retorts.
- n. Synonyms Repartee, Retort. A repartee is a witty and good-humored answer to a remark of similar character, and is meant to surpass the latter in wittiness. A retort is a keen, prompt answer. A repartee may be called a retort where the wit is keen. Retort, however, is quite as commonly used for a serious turning back of censure, derision, or the like, in a short and sharp expression.
- To make ready and witty replies.
Wiktionary
- n. A swift, witty reply, especially the one that is amusing.
- n. A conversation marked by a series of witty retorts.
- v. To reply with a repartee
- v. To have a repartee (conversation marked by repartees)
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A smart, ready, and witty reply.
- v. rare To make smart and witty replies.
WordNet 3.0
- n. adroitness and cleverness in reply
Etymologies
- From French repartie, deverbal of repartir ("to retort") (Wiktionary)
- French repartie, from feminine past participle of repartir, to retort, from Old French, to retort, to depart again : re-, re- + partir, to depart (from Latin partīre, to divide, from pars, part-, part; see perə-2 in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“French people generally have always admired a command of words and wit, an elegance of expression and a sharpness of mind expressing itself in repartee, and even in France Paris is particularly famous for it.”
“A young Irish newsboy, with a gift for quips and repartee, is named Oscar Wilde.”
The Washington Post: "The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack," steampunk by Mark Hodder
“I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am," Coulter told the crowd of 2,600 Wednesday.”
““I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am,” Coulter told the 2,600 people at Jorgensen Auditorium.”
“No ladies can rival him in repartee, much less compete with him in poetry, so they were all afraid of him, but [this evening] he did not give a cup to any particular lady to make her compose poems.”
“And he was gifted with that peculiar power which enables a man to have the last word in every encounter, -- a power which we are apt to call repartee, which is in truth the readiness which comes from continual practice.”
“Let me reproduce the brilliant repartee: is all of Oklahoma a bit slow? (”
“I’m rather fond of old-fashioned invective in repartee: but I don’t accuse folks of lying, unless I can prove it.”
“Sadly, some prog Think Pessimism participants can’t remember their own talking-points if they engage in repartee with the opposition.”
“And he was gifted with that peculiar power which enables a man to have the last word in every encounter, — a power which we are apt to call repartee, with is in truth the readiness which come from continual practice.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘repartee’.
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
-
501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
-
501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
-
From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
-
501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
-
Wordplay & Pun
wordplay, pound, conceit, clinch, joke, quibble, equivoque, double-entendre, quillet, calembour, carriwitchet, paranomasia and 90 more...
-
501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
-
The Spoken Word
Words relating to Conversation
adage, adamant, brusque, candor, cavil, compelling, didactic, disparage, emphatic, facetious, frank, fulminate and 7 more...
-
Types of Humor
dry wit, irony, sarcasm, black humor, blue humor, gallows humor, parody, Burlesque, satire, repartee, wit, deadpan and 12 more...
-
It's an art
applecart, arterial, arthology, artesian, arthropod, arthrostraca, artifex, artificial, articulate, articling, artichoke, blue darter and 51 more...
-
big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
-
Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
-
NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
-
Eazy E
motley, callous, languid, copious, dubious, contemptible, disparage, sporadic, gratuitous, disillusioned, conflagration, concordance and 99 more...
-
Jane Eyre
abigail, sanguine, chancel, bourne, peremptorily, parley, unwonted, fagging, convolvuli, tarry, insuperable, execrations and 190 more...
-
Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for repartee.
jmjarmstrong JM is enjoying the book on witty repartee ‘Of Human Badinage’. Aug 25, 2011