Retorting

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. The act of providing a witty or incisive response during an argument entails delivering a sharp reply or comeback while engaging in dialogue
2. The process of issuing a quick and often clever reply during a conversation includes delivering a humorous or sharp comeback in response to someone else's statement
3. The action of giving a clever or sharp reply to a remark often involves engaging in repartee or quick dialogue with a sense of humor

Etymology: The verb "retort" comes from Latin "retorquēre," meaning "to twist back," and the sense of a sharp reply grows directly from that image of something being flung or turned back at its sender. Latin "retortus," the past participle, gave Middle English "retorte," and the word's wit-related sense developed over time from that idea of hurling a remark back at a speaker. The same Latin root produced a very different object. Chemists borrowed the word from French "retorte" for a glass vessel with a bent, twisted neck, used in distillation. The vessel's shape is the literal twist back, which makes the chemical sense and the verbal sense two branches of one image. "Retorting" is the present participle and gerund of "retort," so it simply names the act of making such a reply.

Synonyms: replying, responding, rejoinder

Antonyms: silencing