Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Sports A quick thrust given after parrying an opponent's lunge in fencing.
- n. A retaliatory action, maneuver, or retort.
- v. To make a return thrust.
- v. To retort quickly.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In fencing, a quick, short thrust by a swordsman after parrying a lunge from his opponent: usually given without moving from the spot, before the opponent has time to recover his position or guard.
- n. Hence A quick, smart reply; a repartee.
- To make a quick, smart reply or repartee.
Wiktionary
- n. fencing a thrust given in return after parrying an attack.
- n. a quick and usually witty response to a taunt, a retort
- n. an answer or reply, rapidly uttered, in response to a question or problem
- v. fencing to attempt to hit an opponent after parrying an attack.
- v. to respond quickly; particularly if the response is humorous.
WordNet 3.0
- v. answer back
- n. (fencing) a counterattack made immediately after successfully parrying the opponents lunge
- v. make a return thrust
- n. a quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty or critical one)
Etymologies
- From French riposte, taken from Italian risposta, a derivative of the verb rispondere, "to respond". (Wiktionary)
- French, alteration of obsolete risposte, from Italian risposta, answer, from feminine past participle of rispondere, to answer, from Latin respondēre; see respond. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Whether this serves as a decisive riposte is open to readers to judge.”
“Yet another set of emails approaching. on October 9, 2008 at 9: 59 am | Reply Pete sara and PC 44: and your reasoned riposte is … .. what, exactly?”
“Scum@17 - your devastating riposte is what exactly … ..?”
“The inevitable riposte is that, "Well, we can get people mad at George Bush by mentioning the election!”
“And, Zuch, for emphasis, that’s an exceedingly apt analogy, so I’d like to think your riposte is based upon a naivete rather than a desire to mislead.”
“Budget guru Stan Collender isn't impressed with Newt Gingrich's revisionist take on the government shutdowns of the mid-1990s, and his riposte is a nice capsule summary of what drove the budget battles -- and budget successes -- of the era:”
The Washington Post: The budget battles of the '90s in two paragraphs
“That piece prompted a 28,000-word riposte from Mr. Berman in The New Republic months later.”
“And earlier this year E.M. Halliday's much-praised "Understanding Thomas Jefferson" -- its very title a riposte to Ellis, whose earlier study "American Sphinx" emphasized Jefferson's unknowability -- tried to make sense of Jefferson's contradictory attitudes about race and sexuality by examining both his personal experience and his literary tastes.”
“His riposte was the devastating “Sally Hemings, slave girl mistress of Jefferson” piece.”
“Mercer's 1500 word riposte hit Golfman squarely where it hurts - in the pomposity.”
Mercer, Golfman and Afghanistan: good for circ if nothing else
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘riposte’.
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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New words
new words or spelling issues
voluble, Metagrobolize, salubrious, calumny, fugacity, withdrawal, bourse, hypertrophy, leitmotif, argot, improvident, damask and 238 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 503 more...
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GRE Words R
raiment, regale, reprise, renege, reproach, reprobate, reticent, riposte, rubric, rapacious, ruffian, rote and 3 more...
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•Unexpected Pronunciation, Now! with ...
Inspired to publicity by the conversation at segway. Thanks, pals!
boatswain, clapboard, waistcoat, victuals, forecastle, solder, colonel, ensign, worcestershire sauce, creatinine, coelacanth, banal and 79 more...
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architecture and design words
fancy words to use when describing architecture and design
beautility, bathos, ephemeral, wabi sabi, ethos, didactic, ascetic, ephemeral, non sequitur, veracity, acumen, maven and 22 more...
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fredrx's beautiful sounding list
two most beautiful words when put together
womb, philistine, poignant, wombastic, eschelon, macabre, precipitous, panache, misogynist, placebo, cacophony, aplomb and 43 more...
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Favorite Words
pablum, maundy, histrionic, adamant, ascribe, verbiage, insouciant, erudite, gregarious, superfluous, banal, obdurate and 280 more...
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apjoseph's words
insurmountable, ubiquitous, unequivocal, incumbent, asinine, amenable, sycophants, precarious, malevolent, gregarious, raison detra, nefarious and 200 more...
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ICE
quincunx, adoxography, panjundrum, breloque, surd, scripturient, rousant, favrile, embouchure, aquarelle, griffonage, sussultatory and 234 more...
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Appellations
States of ment.
off kilter, fervent, nonchalant, exuberant, turbid, verbose, eloquent, vicarious, gallivant, orotund, amalgamate, accentuate and 285 more...
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BonMots
assiduous, progeny, hegemony, nascent, reticent, ephemera, zeitgeist, recalcitrant, copious, corporeal, cacaphonous, obstreperous and 108 more...
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Stumbled Words
A list of words that I stumbled upon while reading.
penumbra, prolix, propitious, resplendence, sepulchral, Weltschmerz, apparition, brigand, probity, chalice, paroxysm, pallor and 160 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Hitch Words
Words from the lexicon of Christopher Hitchens
propinquity, fratricide, factitious, vitiate, sectarianism, ostensible, atavistic, sephardic, doyen, palpable, encephalitic, fastidious and 188 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for riposte.
Ido Berger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandy_Rice-Davies#.22Well.2C_he_would.2C_wouldn.27t_he.3F.22 Jun 28, 2010
yarb preemptive strike is the term, but it's not especially clever is it? Apr 16, 2010
mollusque A preempt? By analogy to the term used by bridge players. Apr 16, 2010
Donn I like riposte, but what's the word for a counterattack executed *in anticipation* of a (usually telegraphed) attack? Think in NES Punch Out, where some opponents will rear back for a haymaker, and the proper response is a quick jab in that moment of vulnerability. It's not just a boxing term, but also a good metaphor. This one has been nagging at me. Help! Apr 16, 2010
asativum To be followed, if I'm not mistaken, by a remise or a reprise, in turn met with a redouble. And I could swear the counter-riposte, and the counter-counter-riposte, have their place as well. But I'm often wrong. Sep 15, 2008
chained_bear In fencing, an attack performed immediately after a parry. Feb 6, 2007