retort.
A sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback.
Meaning & usage
A sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback.
He countered her insult with a clever retort.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English retorte, from Latin retortus, from retorquēre (“to be forced to twist back”).
To say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation.
To make a remark which reverses an argument upon its originator; to return, as an argument, accusation, censure, or incivility.
to retort the charge of vanity
To bend or curve back.
a retorted line
To throw back; to reverberate; to reflect.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English retorte, from Latin retortus, from retorquēre (“to be forced to twist back”).
A flask with a rounded base and a long neck that is bent down and tapered, used to heat a liquid for distillation.
An airtight vessel in which material is subjected to high temperatures in the chemical industry or as part of an industrial manufacturing process, especially during the smelting and forging of metal.
A pressure cooker.
A crematory furnace.
Where this word comes from
From French retorte.
To heat in a retort.
Where this word comes from
From French retorte.
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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.