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What is "answer"

Crossword clues for answer

answer
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
answer
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a correct answer
▪ Lucy got fourteen out of twenty correct answers.
an answering machine (=for recording telephone messages)
▪ There’s a message on the answering machine.
answer a call
▪ We’re sorry that we cannot answer your call right now.
answer a letter/reply to a letter
▪ I never answered his letter.
answer a question
▪ You haven’t answered my question.
answer an advertisement
▪ I answered an advertisement in the paper for volunteers.
answer an inquiry (also respond to an inquiryformal)
▪ The government has not yet answered our inquiry.
answer sb's prayer (=respond to a prayer, especially by giving you what you ask for)
▪ One day my prayers were answered.
answer the door (=open it for someone who has knocked or pressed the bell)
▪ Lucy ran downstairs to answer the door.
answer the phone (also pick up the phone)
▪ My dad answered the phone.
answer the telephone
▪ When I called the house, Mike answered the telephone.
answering machine
answer...queries
▪ Staff are always available to answer your queries.
answer/reply to an email
▪ She did not bother replying to his email.
negative answer/reply/response
▪ He gave a negative answer without any explanation.
ready answer
▪ I had no ready answer to his question.
sb answering a description (=a person who looks like someone in a police description)
▪ A young girl answering this description has been seen in Spain.
straight answer
▪ I’d like a straight answer please.
stumped for words/an answer/a reply
▪ Travis seemed absolutely stumped for words.
the answer is no
▪ If you’re asking whether I feel the same way about her, the answer is no.
the obvious answer
▪ There is no obvious answer to their problem.
the problem/answer etc lies with/in sth
▪ The difficulty lies in providing sufficient evidence.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
correct
▪ Conversely, correct answers were sometimes treated as if they were incorrect.
▪ The correct answer is: Yes.
▪ This supplements the consideration of deductive and logical abilities measured by the traditional convergent questions for which there are unique correct answers.
▪ Owner Jim presented flash cards, writes Steiner, and Sunny came up with correct answers.
▪ A total of 71 percent of the full attainment range sample obtained the correct answer.
▪ The correct answer is Coco Chanel.
▪ The point is that nobody can be sure what the correct answer actually is.
▪ The quicker the player chooses the correct answer, the more points he or she gets.
definite
▪ Philosophers need to stop procrastinating and staring at their navels and answer questions like the one above with a definite answer.
▪ Because there are few definite answers in law, it engages one to be philosophical-or spiritual, you might say.
▪ The accompanying text pages explore these questions and give definite answers as a basis for discussion.
▪ I would like to give a definite answer.
▪ For the bluesy sound that you are after, an old Marshall 50 with a 4x12 would be the definite answer.
▪ All are familiar with their own experiences of being asleep, and feel they can give definite answers.
▪ There can be no definite answer to this problem at the moment.
▪ None of those questions has a definite answer.
easy
▪ Some materials still resist easy answers - gold is an example.
▪ Because the move to management requires transformation, though, no easy answers or quick fixes are provided.
▪ No easy answers came and there were many apparent paradoxes.
▪ I found no easy answer from within myself.
▪ Magona's reexamination of a highly contentious political event leaves no easy answers.
▪ So much for an easy answer.
▪ It's time to ask questions that don't have easy answers.
▪ Instead of careful legalisms, there was an easy flow of answers, even if some were too pat.
honest
▪ The honest answer is another question; well what is there?
▪ In my mind, it was the only truly honest answer to my question.
▪ Unless it means he can't give an honest answer.
▪ Sadly the only honest answer to this question is that nobody knows.
▪ Please can we have some honest answers which really address the true situation?
▪ The attendant was entirely honest in his answers to my questions and in the amount of fuel he pumped.
▪ Be honest with your answers and repeat the questionnaire in two months' time!
▪ An honest answer seems to be that no one has the slightest idea.
obvious
▪ The obvious answer is to draw it back to the side away from the corner, but this can create an unbalanced appearance.
▪ Video teleconferencing seemed the obvious answer to span the communications gap.
▪ Cui bono? has a too obvious answer.
▪ If counterintelligence becomes the overriding mission, the obvious answer is the solution first offered by Sen.
▪ To all these and other equally weighty questions, I had no obvious answers yet.
▪ The obvious answer, of course, is that it is just another example of the Government's incompetence.
▪ For the Terrells a good many of the obvious answers are irrelevant.
only
▪ As a matter of interpretation the only possible answer is that it can not.
▪ In my mind, it was the only truly honest answer to my question.
▪ Surely those were good questions which need answering, and to abandon the community interpretation deprives us of the only possible answer.
▪ I should have known the only answer ever is to stand and fight.
▪ The only answer was to find himself some one new.
▪ Housing officers say the only answer is for tenants to be prepared to take their cases to court.
▪ The only answer was the serum.
▪ A return to scriptural authority is the only answer.
possible
▪ We look at other possible answers in the next chapter.
▪ Truc inadvertently provided a possible answer.
▪ Surely those were good questions which need answering, and to abandon the community interpretation deprives us of the only possible answer.
▪ There are other possible answers, too.
▪ A letter from Shrewsbury, received in Christmas week, provided one possible answer.
▪ Here is a possible answer: Michael Landon was rich, decent, handsome, young, and successful.
▪ But it is the first possible answer that presents the immediate worry.
▪ One possible answer is that the Fed is wrong, that depository institutions do borrow for profit as well as need.
right
▪ Mr. Lloyd may be right in his answer to the estoppel by deed point.
▪ They had simply assumed that, because I had asked the question, one of those words must be the right answer.
▪ The child will work it out on his fingers and get the right answer.
▪ What mattered was that I got the right answer.
▪ No one has all the right answers but there is now a willingness to share information.
▪ I quickly found out that knowing the right answer was much easier than selling it.
▪ There are no right or wrong answers to these questions.
▪ When a clinical situation poses a genuine moral dilemma, by definition no right answer exists.
satisfactory
▪ One long-standing allegation of satanic elements in masonry, however, still awaits a satisfactory answer.
▪ There are hundreds of questions to be asked in order to find a satisfactory answer to the general question.
▪ But she had no satisfactory answer to that.
▪ We are left by the master without a satisfactory answer to our question.
▪ She was baffled when she couldn't give herself, or wouldn't give herself, a satisfactory answer.
▪ I can not pretend to give a satisfactory answer to these questions.
▪ In the case of Sri Lanka, there is no satisfactory answer.
▪ But he can never come up with a satisfactory answer.
short
▪ There is a short and simple answer to this question.
▪ The short answer is yes, some but not nearly enough.
▪ That short answer gives rise to two further questions.
▪ We chatted about Guantanamo, me with the long questions and he with the short, abrupt answers.
▪ The short answer to that is that we don't know.
▪ A: The short answer is no.
▪ A well-structured short answer is better than a weakly-structured long answer.
simple
▪ The simple answer is, they do not.
▪ There is no simple answer to this question.
▪ In short, there is no simple answer to whether caffeine is, or is not, helpful in performing intellectual tasks.
▪ The simple answer is - yes.
▪ We persist in grasping at neat, simple answers, when we should be questioning everything.
▪ A simple answer would be to establish a sociology / psychology / philosophy core for all pupils.
▪ There is, unfortunately, no simple answer, for our knowledge on the subject will always be limited.
straight
▪ Then I want a straight answer.
▪ Tommy gave straight answers and expected them in return.
▪ I also want a straight answer on Charlie Northrup.
▪ Designed to provide a straight answer to a straight question as fast as possible.
▪ Now that was a straight answer.
▪ You just have to give a straight answer.
wrong
▪ There was a reluctance among some teachers to say openly that a particular answer to a question was wrong.
▪ With contemporary art, there is not always a right or wrong answer.
▪ They found no clearly right and wrong answers in dealing with people.
▪ There are no right or wrong answers to these questions.
▪ The teacher was told by the researcher to regard silence as a wrong answer and to punish it accordingly.
▪ But it's the wrong answer.
▪ Conversely, they attached little value to questions to which there were simply short right or wrong answers.
■ VERB
find
▪ And then she thought of how she might find an answer to some of her questions.
▪ There are hundreds of questions to be asked in order to find a satisfactory answer to the general question.
▪ In 1983 she found an answer - albeit the wrong one to all her problems.
▪ Suggested it would take a bipartisan commission to find answers for long-term imbalances in Social Security and Medicare.
▪ From this, assumptions can be made about the internal processes required to find the answer.
▪ And when you found the right answer, there was no arguing about it.
▪ Time to leave then, and find some answers.
▪ As with the science of fermentation, it took a surprisingly long time for anybody to find answers to such questions.
give
▪ I wish I could give a more hopeful answer.
▪ A Census Bureau study gives us the answer.
▪ The boy was quieter than his sister, and gave tongue-tied answers.
▪ I will give you my answer.
▪ When everyone has finished discussing, they give their answers.
▪ Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do.
▪ However, they did find that personal service workers tended to give different answers to the questions about autonomy at work.
▪ My Internet provider gives conflicting answers.
know
▪ I mean, he knows the answers to all the questions in the Baby Trivia Quiz already.
▪ Without his even knowing it, the answer was already there for him, sitting fully formed in his head.
▪ I don't know the answer to all these questions.
▪ I quickly found out that knowing the right answer was much easier than selling it.
▪ I didn't know the answer and neither did anyone else.
▪ Eleven months ago, with a full head of hair, Dominic won this game because he knew the answer was Bambi.
▪ I should have known the only answer ever is to stand and fight.
▪ The voter knows that an affirmative answer would be considered more respectable than the truth.
lie
▪ The long-term answer lies in a case decision favourable to the taxpayer on this very point.
▪ The first answer lies in the choice of books.
▪ The answer probably lies in the complex maze of hype, distribution and luck which makes up today's rock biz.
▪ One answer lies in the technological advances that make it possible to operate with fewer people.
▪ The answer lies in the nature of Skymaster itself, and for that you need a little history.
▪ Sure, part of the new management answer lies in articulating why change is necessary and what the desired changes look like.
▪ The answer lies somewhere between these two extremes.
▪ This answer lies in several areas: high-quality content, use of the latest technology and the fun factor.
provide
▪ Researchers hope that observations of behaviour within the hive will provide an answer.
▪ No one can provide definitive answers to these questions.
▪ We regret that we can not provide data or answer queries on articles or projects that are more than five years old.
▪ Evaluation does not provide all the answers and often presents no clear path for improvement.
▪ While measures for closer relations between auditors and shareholders are welcome, they may not provide the complete answer.
▪ This stage of experiment should focus and direct inquiry by providing some answers to old questions and suggesting some new questions.
▪ This approach tends to wait on the scientists to provide a satisfactory answer.
▪ The Senate subcommittee, like too many government entities, asked the wrong questions and provided no answers.
receive
▪ Both questions have to receive affirmative answers, and they are not mutually exclusive.
▪ Kate never received an answer to this letter, for it never reached Minnie.
▪ I've delivered the message, and I've received your answer.
▪ When Tabachnikov asked open-ended questions, she rarely received an answer.
▪ He thumped his hand on it twice and, receiving no answer, used his keys and entered.
▪ I asked, never receiving a satisfy-ing answer.
▪ Once all the tenders had been received, the answers were scored.
▪ You can also leave a question and receive an answer by mail or telephone call within a week.
send
▪ All you have to do is identify those plants and send in your answers on a postcard together with your name and address.
▪ No trouble! Send your answers to Link editor,,.
▪ Lenders advertising the same APRs sent in different answers.
write
▪ As each question is asked each team goes into a huddle and then writes down its answer.
▪ The Bureau drew most of its figures from a written answer to a printed form.
▪ Simply write the appropriate answers in the boxes on the corner of the page - all necessary information appears in this feature.
▪ First, it is apparent that illiterates will not have much success in giving written answers to a printed questionnaire.
▪ Answer the following questions. Write your answers on a sheet of paper which you can keep.
▪ Ask questions on any subject and receive written answers.
▪ Then use the coupon on the right to write your answers and personal details.
▪ They questioned the men, wrote down their answers, conferred, made decisions.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an/the answer to sb's prayers
▪ Excel 4 has the answer to my prayers in the Scenario Manager.
▪ If so, a 100 per cent mortgage may look like the answer to your prayers.
▪ If so, Lands' End may have the answer to your prayers.
▪ She, she is the answer to my prayers.
▪ The letter seemed to be the answer to her prayers.
▪ To Jacqueline this was the answer to her prayers.
answer/reply in the affirmative
▪ Are men more mechanical than women? 67% of all men responding to our poll answered in the affirmative.
▪ When asked if he recognized the defendant, the witness replied in the affirmative.
▪ No doubt Harry's family would also have replied in the affirmative, indicating that they really did not know what happiness was.
▪ That question was answered in the affirmative.
▪ We can answer in the affirmative provided the weights are all positive.
speak/ask/answer etc directly
▪ Although they never spoke directly of Lachlan, each knew the other's mind; though not as well as she believed.
▪ Dole spoke directly about his age, saying 73 years of life are not a liability.
▪ Even when asked directly, as they were by Carol Hong, employees misrepresented the costs, her lawsuit alleges.
▪ In fact, a Harvard spokesman confirmed her admittance only when asked directly.
▪ Later she spoke directly to Rachel.
▪ They seem to speak directly out of the dark into your ears or mine alone.
▪ This is, however, a book that speaks directly to the home cook looking for new challenges and tastes.
▪ When asked directly what were their visions of Howdendyke's future, interviewees made fairly consistent replies.
there are no easy answers
▪ As usual, there are no easy answers to explain human behavior.
▪ But suddenly we find ourselves acknowledging that there are no easy answers to the dilemmas Christians face.
▪ So there are no easy answers.
▪ There are no easy answers to this problem.
won't take no for an answer
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Answers to the letters are as varied as the children who wrote them.
▪ A bank loan seemed like the answer to all our problems.
▪ And the answer is... Budapest!
▪ Did you ever get an answer to your last letter?
▪ Each time I ask him when the work will be done, I get a different answer.
▪ I've asked Yvonne to come on vacation with us, but I'm still waiting for her answer.
▪ If you're asking me for money, the answer's no!
▪ Score one point for each correct answer.
▪ The answer to your question is very simple; you failed the exam because you didn't do any work.
▪ The city council has to find a better way of dealing with domestic waste. One answer is to burn it.
▪ The first person to call with the right answer will win 10 CDs of their choice.
▪ The obvious answer is to keep poisonous plants out of children's reach.
▪ There are no easy answers to today's environmental problems.
▪ There was a question and answer period after the lecture.
▪ Think carefully before you give the answer.
▪ We've written to the bank requesting a loan, and we're expecting an answer in this morning's mail.
▪ What's the answer to question 4?
▪ What was her answer?
▪ Why don't people complain? The answer is that they are frightened of losing their jobs.
▪ Write your answers on the form and send it to this address.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ I must also emphasise that the answer I give to the question before me will be of general application.
▪ In search of an answer, you follow your nose, wherever it leads, actively pursuing the mystery.
▪ Nor can the living coelacanth suggest an answer, for today it never leaves its deep waters.
▪ The answer is certainly not to pay all academics more.
▪ The answers they gave had to be corroborated by witnesses.
▪ The braggart turns every question into an answer that makes himself or herself look incredibly good.
▪ We chatted about Guantanamo, me with the long questions and he with the short, abrupt answers.
II.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
for
▪ Elvis has a lot to answer for.
▪ Tax men have a lot to answer for.
▪ I think the present Government has a lot to answer for.
▪ The procedures whereby political decisions are made in the United States surely have much to answer for.
▪ The trade unions have been largely silent and it was felt that the media had a lot to answer for in this department.
▪ The old, and now much condemned, low-carbohydrate method of dieting had much to answer for in making social eaters fat.
▪ Time is relative - and Einstein has a lot to answer for.
yes
▪ Ninety-nine percent of those responding answered yes.
▪ If you had asked that question six or seven years ago, I would have answered yes..
▪ Attorney Robert Rivas answers yes to both questions.
▪ The patient with damage to one frontal lobe catches on to the original sorting strategy and gets the string of yes answers.
▪ Twenty percent of single women and 18 percent of women who are now separated or divorced answered yes.
▪ Just 17 percent of women in our computer sample gave a yes answer to this question.
▪ Again, more men than women endorsed the romantic ideal by answering yes.
▪ Cosby answered yes when Baum asked if he ever told Jackson he loved her.
■ NOUN
call
▪ Secondly, it will answer calls for a less economistic analysis of social change and behaviour.
▪ They answered our call....
▪ He would not answer at her call.
▪ Drinker answered phone calls at all hours from around the world, giving instructions on how to build and operate them.
▪ Perhaps she had known it would happen, perhaps he had answered her call for the same reason.
▪ The police officers, answering a call reporting a man beating a woman, were shot shortly before 10 p. m. Sunday.
▪ As Marguerite left the room for a moment to answer a phone call, Jenna looked up at Alain.
▪ Nor did it answer to a radio call.
charge
▪ This publication contained detailed descriptions of persons who failed to appear at court to answer a criminal charge.
▪ You can even have your phone answered for a minimal charge.
▪ Avon and Somerset Police have summonsed Redknapp to appear in court to answer charges of alleged abusive conduct.
▪ He needed intelligently and forthrightly to answer her charges and demonstrate sympathy for her embattled position.
▪ He said he would return to answer all charges.
▪ When he tried to answer such charges Gore seemed unable or unwilling to draw on Clinton's approach.
▪ He appeared in court to answer a charge of drink-driving - not, it transpired, for the first time.
▪ In particular non-disclosure makes it difficult to answer charges that the government's policies are not properly coordinated.
door
▪ Yesterday traders tracked down show chairman Alistair McCloud to his hotel room in Aylesbury, but he refused to answer the door.
▪ Yet it was clear to Sarn Fong that he should not go outside or answer the door after dark.
▪ Dimity's knitting had been hastily put aside when she answered the door, and decorated a low table near the fire.
▪ There was a rule in the Ackerman house that whoever was least busy had to answer the door and the phone.
▪ And he's not answering the door or coming out.
▪ Manuel Gustavo arrives, and when no one answers the door, comes in the back way.
▪ When traders tracked him down to his hotel room, he wouldn't answer the door.
▪ Her granddaughter says the old woman was afraid to answer the door, terrified that once again city officials would come knocking.
letter
▪ We regret that we are unable to answer your letters personally.
▪ He answered every letter in his voluminous correspondence, and never formally.
▪ Others need the extra information to answer readers' letters, whose numbers in some instances can be quite substantial.
▪ Normally he answered such letters at once, often in his own hand.
▪ He answered his letters in long-hand, and when he retired there was not even a typewriter in the building.
▪ Another acquaintance, some one we d not heard from since our last visit, apologized for not answering our annual letters.
▪ I will ensure that the hon. Gentleman is answered by letter.
▪ She asked me to apologize to you, should I see you, for not having answered your last letter.
need
▪ He had expected money to answer every need.
▪ Previously, most units had a clean-lined, contemporary look that did not answer needs of style-conscious traditionalists.
▪ The nurses say they are in favour of the Pill being available because it answers a very real need.
▪ But jiggling with the past to answer the needs of the present can be a high risk operation.
▪ It is answering a direct need of the audience.
▪ He kissed her, his mouth crushing hers, answering her need with his own.
▪ We're looking at new programmes - again to answer the needs of our audience.
▪ He believed they answered to people's needs.
phone
▪ He sat on the edge of the bed in his hotel room and waited for the phone to be answered.
▪ You can even have your phone answered for a minimal charge.
▪ What's the point of having a phone if you never answer it? he asked me.
▪ Even if the phone was answered, the client might not get through to the person he wanted.
prayer
▪ Both play a very clever trick which will answer the prayers of video users all round the world.
▪ I thought I could bestow beauty like a benediction and that your half-dark flesh would answer to the prayer.
▪ A very last thought is that we must do everything possible to answer our own prayers.
query
▪ We answer three of your queries about getting hair into tip-top condition.
▪ It gives clear detailed instructions, answers queries and suggests ways to improve your technique.
▪ The Bank staff are there to help you, answer your queries or take details of your complaint.
▪ Please note: We can not answer queries personally and no correspondence will be entered into.
▪ Our advisory services answer thousands of queries from people all over the country.
▪ I can't do much to answer your queries about Kaama.
▪ Station and telephone enquiry bureaux can answer queries on individual services.
▪ Gold Seal unit I should be grateful if you could answer a few technical queries for me.
question
▪ The relocation officer held departmental meetings during which every aspect of the move was discussed and employees' questions were answered.
▪ It might be thought of as an umbrella question which is answered by answering a series of minor questions.
▪ This kind of compromise, we confess, raises as many questions as it answers.
▪ The question is impossible to answer.
▪ Until these questions are answered, no computer can be said to understand language.
▪ Cover is a paltry three bucks, and further questions can be answered by calling 622-8848.
▪ All questions are to be answered.
▪ That question is never answered satisfactorily, even by its champions.
telephone
▪ I shall be killed, Paul Schramm thought, and all because Maria Grandinetti couldn't answer the telephone.
▪ Be pleasant to everyone, especially secretaries who answer the telephone.
▪ When answering the telephone, don't give your number.
▪ But the phone company patched through a line Friday night, and du Pont answered the telephone when authorities called.
▪ Her voice was breathless with bonhomie when she answered the telephone, with an undertone of throatiness that David found attractive.
▪ It was her job to answer the telephone, prepare coffee for her boss's visitors, and run errands.
▪ Here are some of them: Always answer the telephone promptly.
▪ She answered the telephone, thanked the Martellis for thanking her for the party.
■ VERB
attempt
▪ There are two lines of approach open to the inductivist in attempting to answer this question.
▪ Accounting information does not attempt to answer such questions.
▪ What is the most important question that political science should attempt to answer?
▪ Regarding exercises: before attempting to answer a question do make sure you know the meaning of all the words in it!
▪ Rolling Stone attempted to answer that question recently, with the Rolling Stone 200&038;.
▪ That we should attempt to answer the question posed here at all would have seemed peculiar 200 years ago.
▪ One of the first questions they attempted to answer was, Where does stability come from?
refuse
▪ She ignored him, refusing to answer, because what could she say?
▪ She refused to answer questions from reporters later as she left.
▪ For a moment she considered saying nothing at all - after all, he had refused to answer her questions.
▪ Will you refuse to answer the phone if there is no number on your display?
▪ The Opposition refused to answer that in the recent debate, and they have refused to answer it again today.
▪ Yesterday traders tracked down show chairman Alistair McCloud to his hotel room in Aylesbury, but he refused to answer the door.
▪ He refused to answer questions about Paxon.
try
▪ Working with a partner, A asks B open questions, which B tries to answer as briefly as possible.
▪ Every psychotherapy process, early in its development, defines the basic questions it is trying to answer.
▪ Since its landmark 1978 decision in the Bakke reverse-discrimination case, the court has been trying to answer those questions.
▪ I am sorry, I am only trying to answer the question.
▪ When he tried to answer such charges Gore seemed unable or unwilling to draw on Clinton's approach.
▪ I tried again to answer him.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "Why don't you just leave?" "I'd like to," she answered, "but I have nowhere else to go."
▪ A strange man answered the door.
▪ How much did you spend? Come on, answer me!
▪ I got the job by answering an advertisement in the paper.
▪ I knocked on the door for a long time, but no one answered.
▪ I said hello to her, but she didn't answer.
▪ If you answer correctly, you could win a video camera.
▪ Julie thought for a long time before answering.
▪ Miss Millar hired a secretary to answer her mail while she was on vacation.
▪ No one in the city government satisfactorily answered that question.
▪ Officials have made every effort to answer trade concerns.
▪ Only one person answered all the questions correctly.
▪ She still isn't answering my calls.
▪ The waiters are happy to answer customers' questions.
▪ Think carefully before answering that memo.
▪ When questioned about the robbery, Hughes answered that he knew nothing about it.
▪ Whitmore never answered any of my letters.
▪ You don't have to answer the question if you don't want to.
▪ You have 20 minutes to answer all the questions.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A few other players checked their watches, eager to stop fielding questions that only the Games can really answer now.
▪ As the editor in chief of such a magazine, I am obliged to answer a lot of questions about men.
▪ Be careful how you answer that one.
▪ Employing one or several people to answer calls, so that they are screened for their relevance.
▪ I think the present Government has a lot to answer for.
▪ It is a long interview because he is constitutionally incapable of answering a question without at least three long digressions.
▪ She refused to answer questions from reporters later as she left.
▪ That prayer may already be answered.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Answer

Answer \An"swer\, n. [OE. andsware, AS. andswaru; and against + swerian to swear. [root]177, 196. See Anti-, and Swear, and cf. 1st un-.]

  1. A reply to a charge; a defense.

    At my first answer no man stood with me.
    --2 Tim. iv. 16.

  2. Something said or written in reply to a question, a call, an argument, an address, or the like; a reply.

    A soft answer turneth away wrath.
    --Prov. xv. 1.

    I called him, but he gave me no answer.
    --Cant. v. 6.

  3. Something done in return for, or in consequence of, something else; a responsive action.

    Great the slaughter is Here made by the Roman; great the answer be Britons must take.
    --Shak.

  4. A solution, the result of a mathematical operation; as, the answer to a problem.

  5. (Law) A counter-statement of facts in a course of pleadings; a confutation of what the other party has alleged; a responsive declaration by a witness in reply to a question. In Equity, it is the usual form of defense to the complainant's charges in his bill.
    --Bouvier.

    Syn: Reply; rejoinder; response. See Reply.

Answer

Answer \An"swer\, v. i.

  1. To speak or write by way of return (originally, to a charge), or in reply; to make response.

    There was no voice, nor any that answered.
    --1 Kings xviii. 26.

  2. To make a satisfactory response or return. Hence: To render account, or to be responsible; to be accountable; to make amends; as, the man must answer to his employer for the money intrusted to his care.

    Let his neck answer for it, if there is any martial law.
    --Shak.

  3. To be or act in return. Hence:

    1. To be or act by way of compliance, fulfillment, reciprocation, or satisfaction; to serve the purpose; as, gypsum answers as a manure on some soils.

      Do the strings answer to thy noble hand?
      --Dryden.

    2. To be opposite, or to act in opposition.

    3. To be or act as an equivalent, or as adequate or sufficient; as, a very few will answer.

    4. To be or act in conformity, or by way of accommodation, correspondence, relation, or proportion; to conform; to correspond; to suit; -- usually with to.

      That the time may have all shadow and silence in it, and the place answer to convenience.
      --Shak.

      If this but answer to my just belief, I 'll remember you.
      --Shak.

      As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.
      --Prov. xxvii. 19.

Answer

Answer \An"swer\ ([a^]n"s[~e]r), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Answered ([a^]n"s[~e]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Answering.] [OE. andswerien, AS. andswerian, andswarian, to answer, fr. andswaru, n., answer. See Answer, n.]

  1. To speak in defense against; to reply to in defense; as, to answer a charge; to answer an accusation.

  2. To speak or write in return to, as in return to a call or question, or to a speech, declaration, argument, or the like; to reply to (a question, remark, etc.); to respond to.

    She answers him as if she knew his mind.
    --Shak.

    So spake the apostate angel, though in pain: . . . And him thus answered soon his bold compeer.
    --Milton.

  3. To respond to satisfactorily; to meet successfully by way of explanation, argument, or justification, and the like; to refute.

    No man was able to answer him a word.
    --Matt. xxii. 46.

    These shifts refuted, answer thine appellant.
    --Milton.

    The reasoning was not and could not be answered.
    --Macaulay.

  4. To be or act in return or response to. Hence:

    1. To be or act in compliance with, in fulfillment or satisfaction of, as an order, obligation, demand; as, he answered my claim upon him; the servant answered the bell.

      This proud king . . . studies day and night To answer all the debts he owes unto you.
      --Shak.

    2. To render account to or for.

      I will . . . send him to answer thee.
      --Shak.

    3. To atone; to be punished for.

      And grievously hath C[ae]zar answered it.
      --Shak.

    4. To be opposite to; to face.

      The windows answering each other, we could just discern the glowing horizon them.
      --Gilpin.

    5. To be or act an equivalent to, or as adequate or sufficient for; to serve for; to repay. [R.]

      Money answereth all things.
      --Eccles. x. 19.

    6. To be or act in accommodation, conformity, relation, or proportion to; to correspond to; to suit.

      Weapons must needs be dangerous things, if they answered the bulk of so prodigious a person.
      --Swift.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
answer

Old English andswaru "an answer, a reply," from and- "against" (see ante) + -swaru "affirmation," from swerian "to swear" (see swear), suggesting an original sense of "make a sworn statement rebutting a charge." A common Germanic compound (cognates: Old Saxon antswor, Old Norse andsvar, Old Frisian ondser, Danish and Swedish ansvar), implying a Proto-Germanic *andswara-. Meaning "a reply to a question," the main modern sense, was present in Old English. Meaning "solution of a problem" is from c.1300.

answer

Old English answarian "to answer;" see answer (n.). Meaning "to respond in antiphony" is from early 15c.; that of "to be responsible for" is early 13c. Related: Answered; answering. The telephone answering machine is from 1961.

Wiktionary
answer

Etymology 1 n. 1 A response or reply; something say or do in reaction to a statement or question. 2 A solution to a problem. 3 (context legal English) A document filed in response to a complaint, responding to each point raised in the complaint and raising counterpoints. Etymology 2

vb. (context ambitransitive English) To make a reply or response to.

Related phrases:
WordNet
answer

  1. n. a statement (either spoken or written) that is made in reply to a question or request or criticism or accusation; "I waited several days for his answer"; "he wrote replies to several of his critics" [syn: reply, response]

  2. a statement that solves a problem or explains how to solve the problem; "they were trying to find a peaceful solution"; "the answers were in the back of the book"; "he computed the result to four decimal places" [syn: solution, result, resolution, solvent]

  3. the speech act of replying to a question [ant: question]

  4. the principle pleading by the defendant in response to plaintiff's complaint; in criminal law it consists of the defendant's plea of `guilty' or `not guilty' (or nolo contendere); in civil law it must contain denials of all allegations in the plaintiff's complaint that the defendant hopes to controvert and it can contain affirmative defenses or counterclaims

  5. a nonverbal reaction; "his answer to any problem was to get drunk"; "their answer was to sue me"

  6. v. reply or respond to; "She didn't want to answer"; "answer the question"; "We answered that we would accept the invitation" [syn: reply, respond]

  7. give the correct answer or solution to; "answer a question"; "answer the riddle"

  8. respond to a signal; "answer the door"; "answer the telephone"

  9. understand the meaning of; "The question concerning the meaning of life cannot be answered" [syn: resolve]

  10. give a defence or refutation of (a charge) or in (an argument); "The defendant answered to all the charges of the prosecution"

  11. be liable or accountable; "She must answer for her actions"

  12. be sufficient; be adequate, either in quality or quantity; "A few words would answer"; "This car suits my purpose well"; "Will $100 do?"; "A 'B' grade doesn't suffice to get me into medical school"; "Nothing else will serve" [syn: suffice, do, serve]

  13. match or correspond; "The drawing of the suspect answers to the description the victim gave"

  14. be satisfactory for; meet the requirements of or serve the purpose of; "This may answer her needs"

  15. react to a stimulus or command; "The steering of my new car answers to the slightest touch"

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Answer

Generally, an answer is a reply to a question. It can be solution, a retaliation or a response to it.

In law, an answer was originally a solemn assertion in opposition to someone or something, and thus generally any counter-statement or defense, a reply to a question or response, or objection, or a correct solution of a problem.

In the common law, an answer is the first pleading by a defendant, usually filed and served upon the plaintiff within a certain strict time limit after a civil complaint or criminal information or indictment has been served upon the defendant. It may have been preceded by an optional "pre-answer" motion to dismiss or demurrer; if such a motion is unsuccessful, the defendant must file an answer to the complaint or risk an adverse default judgment.

In a criminal case, there is usually an arraignment or some other kind of appearance before the defendant comes to court. The pleading in the criminal case, which is entered on the record in open court, is usually either guilty or not guilty. Generally speaking in private, civil cases there is no plea entered of guilt or innocence. There is only a judgment that grants money damages or some other kind of equitable remedy such as restitution or a permanent injunction. Criminal cases may lead to fines or other punishment, such as imprisonment.

The famous Latin Responsa Prudentium ("answers of the learned ones") were the accumulated views of many successive generations of Roman lawyers, a body of legal opinion which gradually became authoritative.

In music an "answer" (also known as countersubject) is the technical name in counterpoint for the repetition or modification by one part or instrument of a theme proposed by another.

Answer (comics)

The Answer is the name of three fictional comic book characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Answer (album)

ANSWER, released on February 25, 2009 is Angela Aki's 3rd Japanese studio album. It sold 74,068 copies in its first week, peaking at Number 1 on the Oricon charts. It includes a re-recording of We're All Alone, a song that she had previously covered on One. This marks the second time Angela has re-recorded a song from that 2005 Indie album for inclusion on a major label release. It was released in two editions - the regular Cd edition, and a limited first-press only edition which includes a DVD.

Answer (disambiguation)

An answer is a response, generally to a question or problem. Answer or Answers may also refer to:

  • A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), a United States-based protest organization
  • HMS Answer, the name of a galleon and a canceled submarine
  • Answers.com, a reference website
  • Yahoo! Answers, community-driven knowledge market website launched by Yahoo
  • Answer (comics), the name of two comic book characters
Answer (song)

Answer is FLOW's twelfth single. The A-Side was used as opening theme song for the drama Tantei Gakuen. It reached #7 on the Oricon charts in its first week and charted for 12 weeks. *

Answer (Supercar album)

Answer is the fifth and final album by the Japanese indie rock band Supercar. It was released on February 25, 2004 and peaked into the 18th place in the Oricon Albums Chart.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "answer".

And he has to answer for much more than aiding and abetting you with your plot to fool the old man.

I have heard thy windy talk, and this is the answer: we will neither depart, nor come down to you, but will abide our death by your hands here on this hill-side.

David waited silently, allowing Abie all the time she needed to answer his question.

If he was gravely suspected, and refused to appear when he was summoned to answer for his faith, and was therefore excommunicated and had endured that excommunication obstinately for a year, but becomes penitent, let him be admitted, and abjure all heresy, in the manner explained in the sixth method of pronouncing sentence.

Walgun, and though the place seemed deserted, an abo in a singlet and shorts eventually answered the blare of our horn.

I was aboard his ship, the way I expected him to know the answer to everything.

Appropriate training for people who have trusted access to such information should be designed around the answers to these questions.

Malipiero would often inquire from me what advantages were accruing to me from the welcome I received at the hands of the respectable ladies I had become acquainted with at his house, taking care to tell me, before I could have time to answer, that they were all endowed with the greatest virtue, and that I would give everybody a bad opinion of myself, if I ever breathed one word of disparagement to the high reputation they all enjoyed.

He answered that he was a Mahometan as he had been a Christian, and that he was not better acquainted with the Koran than he had been with the Gospel.

Dandolo asked me whether I would answer a question he would ask, the interpretation of which would belong only to him, as he was the only person acquainted with the subject of the question.

My answers were rather obscure in such matters as I was not specially acquainted with, but they were very clear concerning her disease, and my oracle became precious and necessary to her highness.

Her questions to the oracle alluded only to secret affairs which she was curious to know, and she often found truths with which I was not myself acquainted, through the answers.

When Esther and I were alone I began to compliment her, much to her delight, on the cleverness of her answer, the elegance of her style, and her boldness, for she could not be as well acquainted with French affairs as I was.

Andrea went off without answering him, laughing at the acumen still left to this cracked wit.

In the kind of universe Herbert sees, where there are no final answers, and no absolute security, adaptability in all its forms-- from engineering improvisation to social mobility to genetic variability--is essential.