riposte

Pluralripostes

Formsripostes, riposting, riposted

1. 1
   nounfigurativelycountable

   A quick and usually witty reply to a taunt or insult.

   Like a tennis player slamming a serve straight back before it even bounces.

   When the heckler shouted, she fired back a witty riposte that silenced the room.

   His riposte to the critic's jab was so sharp that the audience applauded.

   Similarretort

   Note

   Words take the place of blades here. What gets parried is a taunt or an accusation, and the riposte strikes back. It usually takes to, as in a riposte to the accusation. It need not be spoken, either: Heather Stewart called Tom Watson's 2016 letter one. Retort is its near neighbor, but riposte keeps a stronger sense of being struck first and answering in kind.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   An answer or reply uttered rapidly in response to a question or problem.

   The lawyer's immediate riposte left the witness no time to think.

   Each riposte came so fast that the interviewer struggled to keep pace.

   Similarreply, retort, response, comeback, rejoinder

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To respond quickly, especially with a humorous reply.

   Good debaters riposte the instant a weak argument is raised.

   She ripostes with such wit that no one dares to mock her twice.

   Similarretort, reply, respond, counter

   Note

   In narrative it can do the work of said or replied and introduce the quoted words directly. In J P Donleavy's A Singular Man (1963), the members of the rowing club 'riposted, for God's sake, man.' Choosing it over replied signals that the answer came fast and with some edge or humor, a verbal version of the fencer's counterthrust.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A thrust made in return immediately after parrying an opponent's attack.

   She parried the lunge and answered with a clean riposte to the chest.

   A well-timed riposte caught her opponent while he was still off balance.

   Similarcounterthrust, counterattack

   Note

   The name itself means an answer: French riposte, taken from Italian risposta, from rispondere, 'to respond.' In fencing the order matters. The parry comes first and blocks the blade, then the return thrust follows. That sequence is what separates a riposte from simply attacking. Under the priority rules of the conventional weapons, the riposte holds right-of-way, so a timely one wins the touch.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A counter-attack made in any form of combat or sport.

   The team's swift riposte turned a desperate defense into a goal.

   After absorbing the charge, the knight launched a brutal riposte.

   Similarcounterattack, counterstrike, counterpunch

   Note

   Sport and war borrowed the fencer's word for any hitting back, from a battlefield to a football pitch. Sports writers like it for a side that answers pressure. Reporting England's five-goal romp against Moldova in 2012, Dominic Fifield wrote of Moldova barely 'summoning a riposte.' The word keeps the logic of the fencer's return thrust: a riposte answers an attack and never opens one.

6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To attempt to strike an opponent immediately after parrying their attack.

   Skilled fencers riposte before the attacker has time to recover.

   She ripostes with a lightning thrust after every parry.

   Similarcounter, counterattack

   Note

   The same fencing move, made into a verb. It is normally intransitive: fencers simply riposte, with no object, and the parry is understood rather than stated. Its forms are regular (ripostes, riposting, riposted). It always describes a defender turning attacker, never an opening action, so a fencer who strikes first has attacked, not riposted.

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