Answer

To speak in defense against; to reply to in defense; as, to answer a charge; to answer an accusation.

To speak or write in return to, as in return to a call or question, or to a speech, declaration, argument, or the like; to reply to (a question, remark, etc.); to respond to.

To respond to satisfactorily; to meet successfully by way of explanation, argument, or justification, and the like; to refute.

To be or act in return or response to.

To be or act in compliance with, in fulfillment or satisfaction of, as an order, obligation, demand; as, he answered my claim upon him; the servant answered the bell.

To render account to or for.

To atone; to be punished for.

To be opposite to; to face.

To be or act an equivalent to, or as adequate or sufficient for; to serve for; to repay.

To be or act in accommodation, conformity, relation, or proportion to; to correspond to; to suit.

To speak or write by way of return (originally, to a charge), or in reply; to make response.

To make a satisfactory response or return.

To render account, or to be responsible; to be accountable; to make amends; as, the man must answer to his employer for the money intrusted to his care.

To be or act in return.

To be or act by way of compliance, fulfillment, reciprocation, or satisfaction; to serve the purpose; as, gypsum answers as a manure on some soils.

To be opposite, or to act in opposition.

To be or act as an equivalent, or as adequate or sufficient; as, a very few will answer.

To be or act in conformity, or by way of accommodation, correspondence, relation, or proportion; to conform; to correspond; to suit; -- usually with to.

A reply to a change; a defense.

Something said or written in reply to a question, a call, an argument, an address, or the like; a reply.

Something done in return for, or in consequence of, something else; a responsive action.

A solution, the result of a mathematical operation; as, the answer to a problem.

A counter-statement of facts in a course of pleadings; a confutation of what the other party has alleged; a responsive declaration by a witness in reply to a question. In Equity, it is the usual form of defense to the complainant's charges in his bill.

give a defence or refutation of (a charge) or in (an argument); "The defendant answered to all the charges of the prosecution"

the principal pleading by the defendant in response to plaintiff's complaint; in criminal law it consists of the defendant's plea of ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ (or nolo contendere); in civil law it must contain denials of all allegations in the plaintiff's complaint that the defendant hopes to controvert and it can contain affirmative defenses or counterclaims

the speech act of replying to a question