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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

reply.

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

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

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

    intransitive · transitive
  2. To act or gesture in response.

    intransitive
    Joanne replied to Pete's insult with a slap to his face.
  3. To repeat something back; to echo.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

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.

noun/ɹɪˈplaɪ/
  1. A written or spoken response; part of a conversation.

  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 some cases an answer.

    US
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.