Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To speak or write as a reaction to a question or other prompting.
  • intransitive verb To act in reaction or as a response: synonym: answer.
  • intransitive verb Law To respond to the defendant's answer or plea.
  • intransitive verb To say or give as an answer.
  • noun A word or a series of words spoken or written in reaction, as to a question or request.
  • noun An act made in reaction or response.
  • noun Law A plaintiff's response to the defendant's answer or plea, especially with regard to counterclaims made by the defendant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An answer; a response.
  • noun The act or power of answering, especially with fitness or conclusiveness.
  • noun That which is done for or in consequence of something else; an answer by deeds; a counter-attack: as, his reply was a blow.
  • noun In music, the answer of a fugue.
  • To fold back.
  • To return for an answer.
  • To make answer; answer; respond.
  • To do or give something in return for something else; make return or response; answer by suitable action; meet an attack: as, to reply to the enemy's fire.
  • In law, to answer a defendant's plea.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To return for an answer.
  • intransitive verb To make a return in words or writing; to respond; to answer.
  • intransitive verb (Law) To answer a defendant's plea.
  • intransitive verb Figuratively, to do something in return for something done
  • noun That which is said, written, or done in answer to what is said, written, or done by another; an answer; a response.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, intransitive To give a written or spoken response, especially to a question, request, accusation or criticism; to answer.
  • verb intransitive To act or gesture in response.
  • verb intransitive To repeat something back; to echo.
  • noun A written or spoken response; part of a conversation.
  • noun Something given in reply.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb react verbally
  • noun a statement (either spoken or written) that is made to reply to a question or request or criticism or accusation
  • noun the speech act of continuing a conversational exchange

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English replien, from Old French replier, from Latin replicāre, to fold back; see replicate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

The verb derives, via the Old French replier, from the Latin replicō ("I fold back"), from re + plicō ("I fold"); the noun derives from the verb by verbalisation.

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Examples

  • The easiest way to reply to a tweet is to hit the @reply icon which broadcasts your answer to all your followers, essentially Twitter's equivalent of the "reply all" email function.

    How to Twitter 2009

  • An @reply for facebook is rendered useless by the fact that you can already comment on status updates. reply

    Prepare For The Facebook Vanity URL Landrush Michael Arrington 2005

  • This will automatically fill in the @reply, which you can then follow with your reply message, and then hit the "tweet" button.

    Vail Daily - Top Stories Jessie Williams Tech Bytes Vail 2010

  • When i receive an @reply, i never know what tweet the reply is referring to.

    Original Signal - Transmitting Digg 2010

  • This will automatically fill in the @reply, which you can then follow with your reply message, and then hit the "tweet" button.

    Vail Daily - Top Stories Jessie Williams Tech Bytes Vail 2010

  • This will automatically fill in the @reply, which you can then follow with your reply message, and then hit the "tweet" button.

    Vail Daily - Top Stories Jessie Williams Tech Bytes Vail 2010

  • When i receive an @reply, i never know what tweet the reply is referring to.

    Original Signal - Transmitting Digg 2010

  • If you see your name on your feed, reply (using @reply) within 15 minutes to collect your pair.

    culture Matt Halfhill 2010

  • This will automatically fill in the @reply, which you can then follow with your reply message, and then hit the "tweet" button.

    Vail Daily - Top Stories Jessie Williams Tech Bytes Vail 2010

  • When you @reply to someone's tweet, your reply is connected to their tweet (it's linked to it via the "in reply to" link).

    Original Signal - Transmitting Web 2.0 2010

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