Rejoinder
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 The defendant's answer to the replication.
- 2 (law) a pleading made by a defendant in response to the plaintiff's replication wordnet
- 3 A response that answers another response.
""76. ... P-R8(N) mate! Certainly not 76... P-R8(Q), though threatening mate on the move in seven different ways--as 77 Q-N5 mate would have been the painful rejoinder.""
- 4 a quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty or critical one) wordnet
- 5 A quick response that involves disagreement or is witty, especially an answer to a question.
"I have passed perhaps more time than any other man of my age and country in visits and assemblies, where the polite persons of both sexes distinguish themselves; and could not without much grief observe how frequently both gentlemen and ladies are at a loss for questions, answers, replies, and rejoinders."
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- 6 Re-insertion, typically after allowance of a patent application, of patent claims that had been withdrawn from examination under a restriction requirement. US
- 1 To issue a rejoinder. intransitive
- 2 To say as a rejoinder. transitive
Example
More examples""You're another" is a hallowed rejoinder to playground taunts."
Etymology
From Middle English rejoinder, rejonder, rejoynder, from Middle French rejoindre, with infinitive used as noun frequent in Law French. Doublet of rejoin.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.