answer back
phrasal verb
answered back; answering back; answers back
somewhat informal
: to reply to someone especially in a rude way
impolite children who answer back when their teacher corrects them
Examples of answer back in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Advertisement In their past 16 games, an inning like Tuesday’s eighth — in which the opponent has answered back right away — has occurred 16 times among the 35 half-innings in which the Padres have scored.
—
Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 May 2024
Kucherov answered back with three the next evening.
—Corey Masisak, The Denver Post, 4 Feb. 2024
The manager didn’t answer back for two, three months.
—Lily Moayeri, SPIN, 19 Feb. 2024
This time the Sun Devils trailed by 15 at the break and could not answer back, falling to the suddenly surging Oregon State Beavers 84-71 in Pac-12 play Saturday night.
—Michelle Gardner, The Arizona Republic, 29 Jan. 2024
The Warriors answered back with a 48-point third quarter, their highest-scoring quarter of the season.
—Shayna Rubin, The Mercury News, 12 Jan. 2024
Those are two players who were instrumental in the sweep of the mountain schools last week.
Didn't answer back: ASU has been good at answering an opponent's run with one of their own but this time the Sun Devils didn't have a rally in them.
—Michelle Gardner, The Arizona Republic, 12 Jan. 2024
In June, the Tolkien estate answered back with its own lawsuit, which discussed the plot of Polychron’s book in detail and alleged that it was plainly written as a sequel to Tolkien’s series, which the estate did not authorize.
—Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 19 Dec. 2023
His punny plea for Taylor Swift to perform in his country was already answered back in August, when Swift announced the Canadian leg of her Eras tour, opened by Gracie Abrams, would include six dates in Toronto in November 2024.
—Vulture, 2 Nov. 2023
Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 May 2024
Kucherov answered back with three the next evening.
—Corey Masisak, The Denver Post, 4 Feb. 2024
The manager didn’t answer back for two, three months.
—Lily Moayeri, SPIN, 19 Feb. 2024
This time the Sun Devils trailed by 15 at the break and could not answer back, falling to the suddenly surging Oregon State Beavers 84-71 in Pac-12 play Saturday night.
—Michelle Gardner, The Arizona Republic, 29 Jan. 2024
The Warriors answered back with a 48-point third quarter, their highest-scoring quarter of the season.
—Shayna Rubin, The Mercury News, 12 Jan. 2024
Those are two players who were instrumental in the sweep of the mountain schools last week.
Didn't answer back: ASU has been good at answering an opponent's run with one of their own but this time the Sun Devils didn't have a rally in them.
—Michelle Gardner, The Arizona Republic, 12 Jan. 2024
In June, the Tolkien estate answered back with its own lawsuit, which discussed the plot of Polychron’s book in detail and alleged that it was plainly written as a sequel to Tolkien’s series, which the estate did not authorize.
—Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 19 Dec. 2023
His punny plea for Taylor Swift to perform in his country was already answered back in August, when Swift announced the Canadian leg of her Eras tour, opened by Gracie Abrams, would include six dates in Toronto in November 2024.
—Vulture, 2 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'answer back.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near answer back
Cite this Entry
“Answer back.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/answer%20back. Accessed 19 May. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share