| 单词 | retort |
| 释义 | retort (once / 292 pages) 1nv 2n A retort is a short, clever response to someone's comment or question. If you want to keep the peace during dinner, you should probably bite your tongue instead of making sarcastic retorts to everything your little sister says. Today retort is used as both a noun and a verb, and both come from 16th- and 17th-century sources meaning "to twist or turn back." To retort is to make a comeback, or a quick, witty answer or remark. It can be a form of payback when someone tries to insult or tease another person, and often, the perfect retort doesn't occur to you till later, when you think "Oh! I wish I had said that earlier!" WORD FAMILYretort: retorted, retorting, retorts USAGE EXAMPLESWith an effort, I hold back an angry retort. Washington Post(Dec 29, 2016) But there is a retort to the gloomy diagnosis that inequality will always be with us: it was not always so. The New Yorker(Dec 29, 2016) “Technically she’s jealous of her,” he retorts, quite accurately. The Guardian(Dec 25, 2016) 1 1n a quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty or critical one) Syn|Hypo|Hyper comeback, counter, rejoinder, replication, return, riposte back talk, backtalk, lip, mouth, sass, sassing an impudent or insolent rejoinder reply, response the speech act of continuing a conversational exchange 2v answer back 2Syn|Hyper come back, rejoin, repay, return, riposte answer, reply, respond react verbally n a vessel where substances are distilled or decomposed by heat Hypo|Hyper alembic an obsolete kind of container used for distillation; two retorts connected by a tube vessel an object used as a container (especially for liquids) |
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