1. Say or write something in response
   "answer the question"; "We answered that we would accept the invitation"; "She didn't want to answer";
   - reply, respond
    
2. Give the correct answer or solution to
   "answer a question"; "answer the riddle"
    
3. Respond to a signal
   "answer the door"; "answer the telephone"
    
4. Give a defence or refutation of (a charge) or in (an argument)
   "The defendant answered to all the charges of the prosecution"
    
5. React to a stimulus or command
   "The steering of my new car answers to the slightest touch"
    
6. Understand the meaning of
   "The question concerning the meaning of life cannot be answered";
   - resolve
    
7. Be satisfactory for; meet the requirements of or serve the purpose of
   "This may answer her needs"
    
8. Match or correspond
   "The drawing of the suspect answers to the description the victim gave"
    
9. Be sufficient; be adequate, either in quality or quantity
   "A few words would answer";
   - suffice, do, serve
    
10. Be liable or accountable
    "She must answer for her actions"

1. A statement (either spoken or written) that is made to reply to a question or request or criticism or accusation
   "I waited several days for his answer";
   - reply, response
    
2. A statement that solves a problem or explains how to solve the problem
   "the answers were in the back of the book";
   - solution, result, resolution, solvent
    
3. The speech act of replying to a question
   "His answer to the complex question impressed the interviewer"; "She pondered her answer carefully before speaking"
    
4. A nonverbal reaction
   "his answer to any problem was to get drunk"; "their answer was to sue me"
    
5. (law) the principal 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 defences or counterclaims
   "The defendant's lawyer filed an answer denying all charges"

Derived forms: answered, answering, answers

Type of: agree, check, conform to, correspond, figure out, fill, fit, fulfil [Brit, Cdn], fulfill [N. Amer], gibe, jibe, lick [N. Amer, informal], live up to, marry, marry up, match, meet, pleading, puzzle out, react, reaction, rebut, refute, reply, respond, response, satisfy, say, solve, square, state, statement, suss [Brit, informal], suss out [Brit, informal], tally, tell, unriddle, work, work out

Antonym: interrogation

Encyclopedia: Answer