# answer

Pronunciation: US say "AN-sur" /ˈæn.sɚ/; UK say "AHN-suh" /ˈɑːn.sə/; AUS say "AN-suh" /ˈæn.sə/

## Noun

1. A reply, or something said or done in reaction to a question or statement.
   - Simple: A reply you give when someone asks a question or says something to you.
   - _The senator's answer dodged the reporter's pointed question._
   - _He shouted an angry answer across the crowded room._
3. A solution to a problem or difficult situation.
   - Simple: The way to solve a problem or puzzle.
   - _Researchers are still searching for an answer to antibiotic resistance._
   - _The committee proposed a practical answer to the housing shortage._
7. A person or thing that fills a role similar to a better-known counterpart elsewhere.
   - Simple: A person or thing seen as another place's version of a famous one.
   - _With its giant neon signs and late-night crowds, the old market district is often called the city's answer to Times Square._
   - _Critics dubbed the show the network's answer to its rival's hit drama._

## Verb

2. To make a reply or response to a question, statement, or person.
   - Simple: To reply to someone or something.
   - _He answered every question the committee put to him._
   - _Witnesses must answer truthfully under oath._
4. To respond when someone calls or knocks at a door, telephone, or similar device.
   - Simple: To open the door or pick up the phone when someone calls or knocks.
   - _He hurried to answer the door before the visitor left._
   - _Nobody answered the phone at the office all afternoon._
5. To act in compliance with or in fulfillment of an order, obligation, or demand.
   - Simple: To do what an order, need, or request asks for.
   - _Within hours, hundreds of volunteers answered the hospital's appeal for blood donors._
   - _When the hospital needed extra help during the flu outbreak, retired nurses rushed to answer the call._
6. To be held responsible for something, especially a wrong, and to account for it or suffer the consequences.
   - Simple: To be held responsible for something, especially something wrong, and to explain it or face what follows.
   - _One day they must answer for the harm they caused._
   - _The manager answered for the team's poor decisions._
8. To reply to a charge, accusation, or argument, defending oneself or showing that it is wrong.
   - Simple: To reply to a charge or argument, defending yourself or showing it is wrong.
   - _The minister rose to answer the charges leveled by the opposition._
   - _Defendants have the right to answer every allegation brought before the court._
9. To serve a need or purpose well enough; to be sufficient or do as a substitute.
   - Simple: To be good enough for what is needed.
   - _A sturdy box will answer just as well as a proper crate._
   - _The makeshift shelter answered their needs during the storm._
10. To correspond to or match something; to conform or be suitable, usually with 'to'.
   - Simple: To match or fit something else closely.
   - _Police found an abandoned van answering to the description several witnesses had given._
   - _The cottage she finally found seemed to answer in every detail to the one in her grandmother's stories._
11. To show recognition when addressed by a certain name, or to be known by that name; used with to.
   - Simple: To react when someone calls you by a certain name, or to be called that name.
   - _A well-trained sheepdog will answer to its name from across the field._
   - _The man renting the cabin answers to the name of Jack, though nobody knows if it is his real one._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A court document filed in response to a complaint, addressing each point raised and presenting counterarguments.
- (verb) To respond in writing to a complaint filed in court by submitting the required legal document.
- (verb) To be opposite to, or to act in opposition against, another.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3, 7** — From Middle English 'answere', from Old English 'andswaru' ("answer"), formed from 'and-' ("against") plus 'swaru' ("affirmation"), which is linked to 'swerian' ("to swear"). This suggests an original sense of a sworn statement rebutting a charge. It has cognates such as Old Frisian 'ondser', Old Saxon 'andswōr', Danish and Swedish 'ansvar', and Icelandic 'andsvar'.
**Meanings 2, 4–6, 8–11** — From Middle English 'answeren', from Old English 'andswarian' ("to answer, respond, or deny an allegation under oath"), from Proto-Germanic '*andaswarōną', formed from '*anda-' ("against") and a verb meaning "to swear an oath, answer". It is cognate with Old Frisian 'ondswera', Danish 'ansvare', Swedish 'ansvara', and Icelandic 'andsvara'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/answer (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).