# reply

Pronunciation: say "ri-PLY" /ɹɪˈplaɪ/

## Verb

1. To respond in words, spoken or written, especially to a question, request, criticism, or accusation.
   - Simple: To answer someone in speech or writing, often after a question or complaint.
   - _She replied that the rumors were completely untrue._
   - _When accused, he chose not to reply at all._
4. To respond through an action or gesture rather than through words.
   - Simple: To respond by doing something or making a gesture.
   - _The crowd replied to the speech with thunderous applause._
   - _Dancers reply to each gesture with a movement of their own._
5. To send a sound back by repeating it, as an echo does.
   - Simple: To repeat a sound back, the way an echo does.
   - _The valley replied to the church bells long after they stopped._
   - _Stone walls reply to a singer's voice with a faint echo._

## Noun

2. A written or spoken response, given as one turn in a conversation.
   - Simple: An answer that someone gives in speech or writing.
   - _Her reply arrived three days after I wrote._
   - _The senator's reply dodged the reporter's question entirely._
3. A thing offered or handed over in response to something.
   - Simple: A thing that someone gives back as an answer.
   - _The only reply they received was an empty envelope._
   - _His reply to her kindness was a bunch of flowers._
6. An attack launched in return against an attacking force.
   - Simple: An attack made back against someone who attacked first.
   - _The general ordered a swift reply against the advancing troops._
   - _The fortress fell before any reply could be mounted._
7. A court document in which a party responds to the opposing side's responsive declaration and, in some cases, to its answer. *(US)*
   - Simple: A legal paper that one side files to answer the other side's response, and sometimes its answer.
   - _Counsel filed a reply within the time allowed by the court._
   - _The plaintiff's reply challenged the new defenses raised in the answer._
8. In music, the restatement of a melodic figure by a different voice or instrument.
   - Simple: In music, the repeating of a short tune by another voice or part.
   - _The reply entered in a higher key, echoing the opening subject._
   - _Bach weaves each reply against the original figure with great skill._

## Origin

From Middle English replyen, borrowed from Old French replier ("to reply"), from Latin replicāre ("to fold back"), which in Late or Medieval Latin came to mean "to reply, repeat"; this is from re- plus plicō ("I fold"). It is a doublet of replicate and replica.

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