Reply

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈplaɪ/

Definitions

1. A response given to something that was said, written, or asked
2. An expression or action made as a reaction to a statement or question ; a mechanism that returns a signal or data to its source
3. A comment or answer produced in reaction to a message or inquiry ; a system or tool that reflects or transmits a returning signal

Etymology: The idea of an answer started out as a physical action. The Latin "replicare" meant "to fold back", and a Late or Medieval Latin sense of "to reply" grew from it, as if a reply were something folded back toward the speaker. Old French took the verb as "replier", and it entered Middle English as "replyen" and "replien", so the English word carries that picture of a message returned along the same path it came. The same Latin root gave English two other words that look quite different today. "Replica" and "replicate" are doublets of this word, meaning they descend from the same source but came into English by separate routes. Their shared ancestor is the idea of folding something back, and a copy is, in a sense, something made to fold back over the original.

Synonyms: respond, answer, retort, rejoin, rebut

Antonyms: question, ignore, disregard, refuse, deny