He was tempted to retort, but thought better of it.
Source: tatoeba (302472)
Retort
//ɹɪˈtɔɹt//
Synonyms for "retort" (156 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (32)
Strong matches (46)
Related words (78)
melting potmortarmotmotornasty crackpersiflageplay of witpleasantryquipquips and cranksreactreactionready replyrebutrebuttalreceiptreciprocatereciprocationrecoilrecrimination
Show 49 more words
reechorejoinreparteereplicationreplyrepostreprisalrescriptrescriptionrespondrespondenceresponseresponsionresponsoryretaliateretaliationreturnreturn answerreturn for answerrevengereverberatereverberationripostesallysaysay in replyscintillationshoot backshort answersmart cracksmart sayingsnappy comebackspraysquelchstillstrike backstroke of wittalk backtest tubetransducertransformerturn of thoughtturn the tablesvaporizerwisecrackwitticismwitty replywitty retortyes-and-no answer
Noun(4 words)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
6 entriesMore specific
1 entriesSynonyms
2 entriesderived
12 entriesderived from
1 entrieshas context
1 entriesis a
1 entriesmanner of
1 entriespart of
1 entriesrelated to
20 entriesShowing 16 of 20 words.
Translations
116 translations across 33 languages.
Armenian
4 entries- թորաման noun (flask used for distillation)
- թորանոթ noun (flask used for distillation)
- հակաճառություն noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- բոցել verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Bulgarian
4 entries- находчив отговор noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- реторта noun (flask used for distillation)
- отвръщам verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
- отговарям остроумно verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Catalan
1 entries- retorta noun (flask used for distillation)
Chinese Mandarin
4 entries- 反駁 /反驳 noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- 曲頸甑 /曲颈甑 noun (flask used for distillation)
- 反駁 /反驳 verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
- 回嘴 verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Czech
4 entries- destilační baňka noun (flask used for distillation)
- křivule noun (flask used for distillation)
- odseknutí noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- ostrá odpověď noun (a sharp or witty reply)
Danish
3 entries- destillerkolbe noun (flask used for distillation)
- replik noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- retort noun (flask used for distillation)
Dutch
2 entries- retort noun (flask used for distillation)
- scherp antwoord noun (a sharp or witty reply)
Finnish
4 entries- retortti noun (flask used for distillation)
- sivallus noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- tiuskaisu noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- sivaltaa verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
French
4 entries- cornue noun (flask used for distillation)
- repartie noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- riposte noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- réplique noun (a sharp or witty reply)
Galician
1 entries- retrucar verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
German
4 entries- Autoklav noun (an airtight vessel)
- Erwiderung noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- Retorte noun (flask used for distillation)
- Retourkutsche noun (a sharp or witty reply)
Greek
1 entries- αποστακτήρας noun (flask used for distillation)
Hawaiian
1 entries- panepane verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Hungarian
4 entries- lombik noun (flask used for distillation)
- retorta noun (flask used for distillation)
- riposzt noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- visszavágás noun (a sharp or witty reply)
Ido
2 entries- repliko noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- retorto noun (flask used for distillation)
Irish
1 entries- aisfhreagra noun (a sharp or witty reply)
Italian
2 entries- replica noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- storta noun (flask used for distillation)
Japanese
3 entries- レトルト noun (flask used for distillation)
- 口答え noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- 口答えする verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Latvian
4 entries- asa atbilde noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- retorte noun (flask used for distillation)
- asi atbildēt verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
- atcirst verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Malayalam
2 entries- തർക്കുത്തരം noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- തിരിച്ചടിക്കുക verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Māori
4 entries- kupu paremata noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- ngutu atamai noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- puoto kakīroa noun (flask used for distillation)
- puoto whakaturuturu noun (flask used for distillation)
Occitan
4 entries- rebecada noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- repartida noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- replica noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- retornament noun (a sharp or witty reply)
Ottoman Turkish
1 entries- انبیق noun (flask used for distillation)
Polish
3 entries- retorta noun (flask used for distillation)
- riposta noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- ripostować verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Portuguese
4 entries- balão noun (flask used for distillation)
- réplica noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- replicar verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
- repostar verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Romanian
1 entries- retortă noun (flask used for distillation)
Russian
4 entries- ко́лба noun (flask used for distillation)
- парирование noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- рето́рта noun (flask used for distillation)
- отбрить verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Serbo-Croatian
1 entries- retorta noun (flask used for distillation)
Spanish
4 entries- contrarréplica noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- despachurramiento noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- despachurro noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- espachurramiento noun (a sharp or witty reply)
Swedish
4 entries- genmäle noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- replik noun (a sharp or witty reply)
- retort noun (flask used for distillation)
- genmäla verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Tamil
1 entries- எதிர்த்து பேசு verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Turkish
1 entries- imbik noun (flask used for distillation)
Ukrainian
3 entries- реторта noun (flask used for distillation)
- відказувати verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
- відповідати verb (to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation)
Sample sentences
15 total sentences available.
A large curved retort was boiling furiously in the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and the distilled drops were condensing into a two-litre measure.
Source: tatoeba (7414067)
In the works since 2012, the deal is seen by some as China's retort to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, negotiations for which excluded China and fell apart when the US pulled out.
Source: tatoeba (11048352)
The prime minister designate's retort came after the U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, made a comment earlier this week disputing Canada's assertion of sovereignty over Arctic waters the United States considers international territory.
Source: tatoeba (11048358)
Showing 4 of 15 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.