• retort •
Pronunciation: ri-tort • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: 1. To answer sharply (wittily or sarcastically), reply in an excitedly incisive manner, to hurl back (against, on[to]) or retaliate verbally. 2. To respond with a counterargument.
Notes: This word has a dysfunctional family. The presumptive action noun, retortion, means "retaliation" and is used mostly in law. The active adjective, retortive, can mean "related to a retort" but can also mean "retaliatory". The personal noun, retorter, and the passive adjective, retortable, are the only functional members of the family but are rarely used.
In Play: A retort may be sarcastic or simply witty: "When asked about accusations that he takes bribes, Senator Higgenbottom simply retorts some nonsense irritably." It can also be just nasty: "When asked for help by his campaign manager, he simply retorted, 'Paddle your own canoe'."
Word History: Today's Good Word is another gift from Old French, reduced from Latin retortus, the past participle of retorquere "to bend or twist back", found in several other Latinate borrowings like distort and contort. Retorquere is made up of re- "back" + torquere "to twist", which Latin inherited from PIE terkw-/torkw- "to twist", also underlying Sanskrit tarkuh "spindle", Greek atraktos "spindle", possibly Irish trochlaigh "to break down" and Welsh torri "to break", and German drechseln "to turn (on a lathe)". (A polite "thank-you" is owed Mike Nichols, who suggested today's rather twisted Good Word some time ago.)
