v. 1
To make a reply or response to.
He answered the question.
n. 1
A response or reply; something said or done in reaction to a statement or question.
Her answer to his proposal was a slap in the face.
n. 2
A solution to a problem.
There is no simple answer to corruption.

Related words

Word family: answerability answerless answerable answerer
Phrases: answer back answer for answer key answer sheet back answer

Forms

Plural: answers → replies, responses, says, retorts…
Past participle: answered
e.g. answered → served, suited, sufficed, passed…

Choose the right word

Answer or Luke?

A verbal answer is a return of words to something that seems to call for them, and is made to a charge as well as to a question; an answer may be even made to an unspoken implication or manifestation; see Luke v, 22.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

suffice Suffice it to say that, after all, this won't do.
respond Scents, colors, and sounds respond to one another.
refute It is much harder to refute a lie than to tell one.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
answer		steady
suffice		falling
respond		rising
refute		steady

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

2 letters: do¹
3 letters: get¹, say¹
4 letters: meet¹, pass¹, suit¹, echo²
5 letters: field¹, serve¹, reply², tally², atone²
6 letters: return², result², defend², accord², fulfil², refute², retort²
7 letters: defense², respond², defence², satisfy³, fulfill², suffice², solvent²
8 letters: response², solution³, repartee³, rescript
9 letters: rejoinder³
10 letters: resolution⁴, correspond³, refutation⁴
11 letters: replication⁴, confutation

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (echo² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: répondre
Italiano: rispondere
Español: contestar
Deutsch: antworten
Català: contestar