What does reply mean?
Definitions for reply
rɪˈplaɪre·p·ly
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word reply.
Princeton's WordNet
answer, reply, responsenoun
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"; "he wrote replies to several of his critics"
reply, responseverb
the speech act of continuing a conversational exchange
"he growled his reply"
answer, reply, respondverb
react verbally
"She didn't want to answer"; "answer the question"; "We answered that we would accept the invitation"
Wiktionary
replynoun
A written or spoken response; part of a conversation.
replynoun
Something given in reply.
replyverb
To give a written or spoken response, especially to a question, request, accusation or criticism; to answer.
replyverb
To act or gesture in response.
Johnabella replied to Partario's insult with a slap to his face.
replyverb
To repeat something back; to echo.
Etymology: The verb derives, via the replier, from the replico, from re + plico; the noun derives from the verb by verbalisation.
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Replynoun
Answer; return to an answer.
Etymology: replique, Fr.
But now return,
And with their faint reply this answer join. William Shakespeare.If I sent him word, it was not well cut; he would send me word, he cut it to please himself: if again, it was not well cut, this is called the reply churlish. William Shakespeare.
One rises up to make replies to establish or confute what has been offered on each side of the question. Isaac Watts.
To whom with sighs, Ulysses gave reply;
Ah, why ill-suiting pastime must I try? Alexander Pope.To Replyverb
To return for an answer.
Perplex’d
The tempter stood, nor had what to reply. John Milton.To REPLYverb
To answer; to make a return to an answer.
Etymology: repliquer, Fr.
O man! who art thou that repliest against God? Rom. ix.
Would we ascend higher to the rest of these lewd persons, we should find what reason Castalio’s painter had to reply upon the cardinal, who blamed him for putting a little too much colour into St. Peter and Paul’s faces: that it was true in their life time they were pale mortified men, but that since they were grown ruddy, by blushing at the sins of their successors. Francis Atterbury, Sermons.
His trembling tongue invok’d his bride;
With his last voice Eurydice he cry’d:
Eurydice the rocks and river-banks reply’d. Dryden.
ChatGPT
reply
A reply is a response given to a question or statement, either verbally or in writing. It is an expression or statement made as a reaction or answer to something.
Webster Dictionary
Replyverb
to make a return in words or writing; to respond; to answer
Replyverb
to answer a defendant's plea
Replyverb
figuratively, to do something in return for something done; as, to reply to a signal; to reply to the fire of a battery
Replyverb
to return for an answer
Replyverb
that which is said, written, or done in answer to what is said, written, or done by another; an answer; a response
Wikidata
Reply
The reply is a response by plaintiff to defendant's answer. A reply occurs only when defendant has asserted a counterclaim or the court has ordered a reply. It is important to keep in mind that "plaintiff" in this context may also refer to an impleaded party. So, if a defendant impleads a party, this new party is the third-party defendant and the original defendant is the third-party plaintiff. The third-party plaintiff must file a complaint on the third-party defendant, who then must answer. The court may order a reply to this third-party defendant's answer.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Reply
rē-plī′, v.t. to fold back: to answer.—v.i. to make response: to meet an attack, as to reply to the enemy's fire—(law) to a defendant's plea.—n. an answer: the power of answering: a counter-attack: (mus.) the answer of a figure.—ns. Rep′licant; Replicā′tion, a reply: repetition: (law) the plaintiff's answer to a plea.—adj. Replicā′tive. [O. Fr. replier—L. replicāre, re-, back, plicāre, to fold.]
The New Hacker's Dictionary
reply
See followup.
Military Dictionary and Gazetteer
reply
It is the duty of a court to prevent new matter from being introduced into the prosecution or defense, but a prisoner may urge in his defense mitigating circumstances, or examine witnesses as to character or services, and produce testimonials of such facts, without its being considered new matter. If any point of law be raised, or any matter requiring explanation, the judge-advocate may explain. No other reply to be admitted.—Hough.
Editors Contribution
reply
To create a form of communication.
They did give a reply to the message they got when they got a moment.
Submitted by MaryC on January 11, 2020
reply
To create an accurate, perfect, effective and efficient form of communication.
They did give a reply to the message they received accurately and efficiently.
Submitted by MaryC on January 11, 2020
Matched Categories
British National Corpus
Spoken Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'reply' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3276
Written Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'reply' in Written Corpus Frequency: #3408
Nouns Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'reply' in Nouns Frequency: #1215
Verbs Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'reply' in Verbs Frequency: #282
Usage in printed sourcesFrom:
- [["1515","2"],["1520","1"],["1524","11"],["1563","10"],["1572","1"],["1575","8"],["1579","7"],["1581","5"],["1582","26"],["1587","2"],["1588","2"],["1590","10"],["1592","5"],["1603","3"],["1607","9"],["1611","1"],["1614","1"],["1619","2"],["1623","4"],["1624","3"],["1625","1"],["1626","4"],["1629","3"],["1630","6"],["1634","3"],["1635","6"],["1637","7"],["1638","4"],["1643","6"],["1644","22"],["1645","3"],["1646","2"],["1647","12"],["1648","9"],["1649","3"],["1650","2"],["1652","3"],["1653","5"],["1655","8"],["1656","40"],["1657","2"],["1658","13"],["1659","9"],["1660","2"],["1661","14"],["1662","5"],["1664","11"],["1665","6"],["1666","1"],["1667","12"],["1668","14"],["1669","4"],["1670","20"],["1672","50"],["1673","6"],["1674","1"],["1675","9"],["1676","24"],["1677","31"],["1678","25"],["1679","9"],["1680","30"],["1681","33"],["1682","24"],["1683","66"],["1684","32"],["1685","47"],["1686","14"],["1687","32"],["1688","42"],["1689","7"],["1690","5"],["1691","2"],["1692","18"],["1693","29"],["1694","22"],["1695","7"],["1696","13"],["1697","22"],["1698","37"],["1699","36"],["1700","29"],["1701","38"],["1702","157"],["1703","72"],["1704","59"],["1705","65"],["1706","108"],["1707","107"],["1708","116"],["1709","56"],["1710","83"],["1711","152"],["1712","58"],["1713","72"],["1714","187"],["1715","40"],["1716","43"],["1717","113"],["1718","44"],["1719","145"],["1720","125"],["1721","86"],["1722","187"],["1723","120"],["1724","108"],["1725","123"],["1726","78"],["1727","304"],["1728","162"],["1729","153"],["1730","158"],["1731","217"],["1732","186"],["1733","68"],["1734","99"],["1735","157"],["1736","313"],["1737","239"],["1738","174"],["1739","146"],["1740","162"],["1741","80"],["1742","133"],["1743","133"],["1744","202"],["1745","97"],["1746","101"],["1747","159"],["1748","158"],["1749","116"],["1750","171"],["1751","448"],["1752","210"],["1753","332"],["1754","480"],["1755","369"],["1756","130"],["1757","180"],["1758","357"],["1759","431"],["1760","406"],["1761","433"],["1762","211"],["1763","482"],["1764","456"],["1765","441"],["1766","500"],["1767","405"],["1768","489"],["1769","491"],["1770","607"],["1771","551"],["1772","401"],["1773","485"],["1774","486"],["1775","585"],["1776","521"],["1777","496"],["1778","540"],["1779","371"],["1780","438"],["1781","362"],["1782","529"],["1783","576"],["1784","433"],["1785","651"],["1786","1146"],["1787","1339"],["1788","1137"],["1789","1083"],["1790","1088"],["1791","1541"],["1792","1308"],["1793","1151"],["1794","1387"],["1795","1587"],["1796","1863"],["1797","1319"],["1798","1535"],["1799","1910"],["1800","2358"],["1801","3066"],["1802","3348"],["1803","2663"],["1804","3131"],["1805","3861"],["1806","4333"],["1807","4109"],["1808","4136"],["1809","4282"],["1810","4993"],["1811","5878"],["1812","5958"],["1813","4805"],["1814","6005"],["1815","4987"],["1816","7224"],["1817","8173"],["1818","6747"],["1819","5658"],["1820","10001"],["1821","7398"],["1822","10561"],["1823","10452"],["1824","13502"],["1825","14338"],["1826","10626"],["1827","12104"],["1828","13299"],["1829","12734"],["1830","14898"],["1831","13937"],["1832","16416"],["1833","17233"],["1834","14336"],["1835","18071"],["1836","20365"],["1837","19181"],["1838","19629"],["1839","22160"],["1840","22067"],["1841","20674"],["1842","17134"],["1843","20284"],["1844","22737"],["1845","23900"],["1846","26980"],["1847","25018"],["1848","25737"],["1849","25097"],["1850","27880"],["1851","28557"],["1852","30844"],["1853","37739"],["1854","37765"],["1855","37944"],["1856","41302"],["1857","35214"],["1858","33321"],["1859","35228"],["1860","39294"],["1861","27360"],["1862","22063"],["1863","23856"],["1864","31546"],["1865","31384"],["1866","33095"],["1867","31359"],["1868","31834"],["1869","31326"],["1870","32056"],["1871","32157"],["1872","30617"],["1873","32409"],["1874","34894"],["1875","36125"],["1876","36470"],["1877","38278"],["1878","31952"],["1879","35199"],["1880","44714"],["1881","42023"],["1882","44866"],["1883","52271"],["1884","47646"],["1885","45562"],["1886","36893"],["1887","42742"],["1888","42337"],["1889","38614"],["1890","43014"],["1891","43149"],["1892","47850"],["1893","46173"],["1894","47211"],["1895","51215"],["1896","56484"],["1897","52057"],["1898","61088"],["1899","68652"],["1900","79666"],["1901","66618"],["1902","67407"],["1903","62675"],["1904","71266"],["1905","65665"],["1906","65800"],["1907","60723"],["1908","65692"],["1909","58993"],["1910","61395"],["1911","63626"],["1912","63020"],["1913","60124"],["1914","56439"],["1915","54722"],["1916","50768"],["1917","54169"],["1918","44884"],["1919","49596"],["1920","59709"],["1921","52309"],["1922","57968"],["1923","52608"],["1924","42622"],["1925","47207"],["1926","42254"],["1927","50809"],["1928","51717"],["1929","52990"],["1930","52466"],["1931","51075"],["1932","44650"],["1933","37567"],["1934","43535"],["1935","48830"],["1936","46619"],["1937","45068"],["1938","46025"],["1939","47522"],["1940","44178"],["1941","35240"],["1942","32455"],["1943","28990"],["1944","26970"],["1945","30826"],["1946","43181"],["1947","46883"],["1948","50078"],["1949","51959"],["1950","56495"],["1951","56756"],["1952","60865"],["1953","53748"],["1954","55217"],["1955","58540"],["1956","64330"],["1957","69393"],["1958","71874"],["1959","70616"],["1960","80582"],["1961","91285"],["1962","98928"],["1963","100299"],["1964","95532"],["1965","113055"],["1966","113945"],["1967","120274"],["1968","133562"],["1969","134847"],["1970","146002"],["1971","122083"],["1972","128439"],["1973","116027"],["1974","113844"],["1975","111150"],["1976","110975"],["1977","110352"],["1978","115255"],["1979","110757"],["1980","112233"],["1981","114728"],["1982","114513"],["1983","111538"],["1984","122009"],["1985","115447"],["1986","127866"],["1987","130633"],["1988","138310"],["1989","140447"],["1990","145957"],["1991","144684"],["1992","154536"],["1993","147803"],["1994","152958"],["1995","159602"],["1996","163635"],["1997","169955"],["1998","176212"],["1999","189742"],["2000","212849"],["2001","217873"],["2002","235750"],["2003","272941"],["2004","326212"],["2005","300237"],["2006","347136"],["2007","399237"],["2008","684669"]]
Anagrams for reply »
plyer
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of reply in Chaldean Numerology is: 1
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of reply in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4
Examples of reply in a Sentence
I look on that man as happy, who, when there is question of success, looks into his work for a reply.
The law ties approval of new church and its physical size to the size of the Christian community in the area. Who decides which size is adequate? One square meter per worshipper? Half a meter? Does a child get less space? The law suggests governor approval would follow consultation with ‘responsible authorities,’ but who are these? the governor is to reply within four months whether a church is approved or not. But there is no mechanism or remedy to the situation if he does not reply.
If Abu Nidal is a terrorist, then so is George Washington. (Reply to President Ronald Reagan in defense of Palestinian terrorist)
My friends and family … don’t defend Biden. I ask them ‘how is it going, guys?’ [and they reply] ‘Oh, don’t look at me’, it’s true. Nobody is a Biden voter.
And I found out that I am kind of neurotic about some things, for example, when I text someone and I think that I might have made them upset because they didn't reply right away, I automatically assume that they got mad at me.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
References
Translations for reply
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- رد, إجابة, جواب, أجابArabic
- odpovědět, odpověď, odepsatCzech
- atebWelsh
- genmæle, svare, besvare, besvarelse, svarDanish
- Entgegnung, antworten, erwidern, AntwortGerman
- απαντώGreek
- respondiEsperanto
- repetir, responder, respuestaSpanish
- جوابPersian
- vastaus, palauttaa, vastataFinnish
- réponse, répondreFrench
- freagairt, freagairIrish
- freagair, freagairtScottish Gaelic
- freggyrt, freggyrManx
- उत्तर देना, जवाब, जवाब देनाHindi
- válaszol, felelHungarian
- պատասխանArmenian
- risposta, rispondere, replicaItalian
- 答える, 答え, 返事, 返答, 回答, 返信Japanese
- 대답Korean
- وهڵام, وهڵام دانKurdish
- respondeōLatin
- urupareMāori
- одговара, одговорMacedonian
- antwoorden, respons, beantwoorden, antwoordDutch
- svar, svareNorwegian
- odpowiadać, odpowiedziećPolish
- responder, resposta, repetirPortuguese
- răspundeRomanian
- отвечать, ответ, ответитьRussian
- svara, besvaraSwedish
- жавобTajik
- розповідати, розповістиUkrainian
- جواب, جواب دیناUrdu
- trả lời, hồi âm, hồi đápVietnamese
Get even more translations for reply »
Translation
Find a translation for the reply definition in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Word of the Day
Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?
Citation
Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"reply." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 21 Jan. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/reply>.
Discuss these reply definitions with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In