answer meaning

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

  Derived forms: answered, answering, answers

  See also: answerable, answerer

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

  Antonym: question

  Encyclopedia: Answer

• 
  [Law]
  n. 1. A reply to a request for further information (see INTERROGATORY).
  2. A statement of case served by the respondent to a petition, e.g. an answer to a divorce petition. It is equivalent to the defence served by the defendant in response to a claim form.

• answer for:    Verb: answer for&n ...
• answer to:    1. answer to sb/ ...
• a pat answer:    [American slang]a ...

Examples

1. he did not answer for fear of hurting her.
2. he awaited her answer with impatience.
3. it was too frivolous for her to answer.
4. the pupil's answer was right on the beam.
5. it looked as though he found it hard to answer.