reply

verb
/ɹɪˈplaɪ/

Etymology

From Middle English replyen, replien, borrowed from Old French replier (“to reply”), from the Latin replicō, replicāre (“to fold back”) (in Late or Medieval Latin "to reply, repeat"), from re + plicō (“to fold”); the noun derives from the verb by nominalisation. Doublet of replicate and replica.

  1. derived from replico — “to fold back
  2. derived from replier
  3. inherited from replyen

Definitions

  1. To give a written or spoken response, especially to a question, request, accusation or…

    To give a written or spoken response, especially to a question, request, accusation or criticism; to answer.

    • (intransitive) Please reply to my letter.
    • (transitive) "Sorry I'm late," replied the student.
    • (transitive) He replied that he was not sure.
  2. To act or gesture in response.

    • Joanne replied to Pete's insult with a slap to his face.
    • It is a sound to be dreaded until you ascertain that it is being made by friendly forces; even then, your welcome to it must be tempered with some caution, because gunfire usually leads to replying gunfire[…]
    • […] bulged the onion bag for the Blades, and Downes and Prendergast replied for the Owls.
  3. To repeat something back

    To repeat something back; to echo.

  4. + 5 more definitions
    1. A written or spoken response

      A written or spoken response; part of a conversation.

      • For example, it is said that someone at a party once asked the famous philosopher Ly Tin Weedle ‘Why are you here?’ And the reply took three years.
    2. Something given in reply.

    3. A counterattack.

    4. The answer of a figure.

    5. A document written by a party specifically replying to a responsive declaration and in…

      A document written by a party specifically replying to a responsive declaration and in some cases an answer.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at reply. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01reply02question03investigation04research05seek06ask07answered08answer

A definitional loop anchored at reply. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at reply

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA