answer back

See also: answerback

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

answer back (third-person singular simple present answers back, present participle answering back, simple past and past participle answered back)

1. (ambitransitive) To reply impertinently to (someone); to talk back.

   I'll thank you not to answer back like that! Where are your manners?

   She answered him back rudely.

2. To reply to a question from (someone) at a later time.

   Please answer me back before the end of the week.

3. (sports) To match an opponent’s recent scoring effort.
4. (computing) To issue echo characters, protocol responses, reflexive connection requests, etc.

Usage notes

• In all senses the object (if mentioned) may appear before or after the particle. If the object is a pronoun, then it must be before the particle.
• Proscribed in most contexts due to redundancy.

Translations

to reply impertinently; to talk back

Cebuano: tubagtubag Chinese: Cantonese: 駁嘴 / 驳嘴 (bok3 zeoi2) Mandarin: 頂嘴 / 顶嘴 (zh) (dǐngzuǐ) Czech: odmlouvat French: répondre (fr) Italian: ribattere (it) Maori: whakatoi, whakatoitoi Portuguese: responder (pt) Turkish: karşılık vermek (tr), (yanıt) geri dönmek (tr)

See also

• answerback

Anagrams

• back answer