answering
verb
Form of answer , present participle of answer.
Simple meaning
To speak in defence against.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
anseringSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈænsɚɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
present participle of answer
To speak in defence against; to reply to in defence.
present participle of answer
To be accountable or responsible; to make amends.
present participle of answer
Be liable or accountable
present participle of answer
Match or correspond
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To speak in defence against; to reply to in defence.
Used this way, answering is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An electronic device that answers the telephone and records messages.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.