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''retort'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260125204041-00-⌔

retort - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

retort (plural retorts)

• A sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback.
  • ✤ He countered her insult with a clever retort.

Verb

retort (third-person singular simple present retorts, present participle retorting, simple past and past participle retorted)

• To say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation.
  • ✤ “It is a pity,” he retorted with aggravating meekness, “that they do not use a little common sense. The case resembles that of Columbus’ egg, and is every bit as simple. […]”¹
• To make a remark which reverses an argument upon its originator; to return, as an argument, accusation, censure, or incivility.
  • ✤ to retort the charge of vanity
  • ✤ And with retorted scorn his back he turned.²
• To bend or curve back.
  • ✤ a retorted line
  • ✤ With retorted head, pruned themselves as they floated.³
• To throw back; to reverberate; to reflect.
  • ✤ As when his virtues, shining upon others,/Heat them and they retort that heat again/To the first giver.⁴
  • ✤ Glasses were filled, arresting the trooper on a theme of passion; the pariahdom of the country cop, whose self-respect is to retort the law’s blackmail for blackmail levied on his self-respect.⁵

Noun

retort (plural retorts)

• (chemistry) A flask with a rounded base and a long neck that is bent down and tapered, used to heat a liquid for distillation.
  • ✤ Hyponym: pelican
  • ✤ 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.⁶
• An airtight vessel in which material is subjected to high temperatures in the chemical industry or as part of an industrial manufacturing process, especially during the smelting and forging of metal.
• A pressure cooker.
  • ✤ The retort is above boiling water. Beneath is a furnace. To the right a man is removing the chips from which the camphor has been extracted.⁷
• A crematory furnace.

Verb

retort (third-person singular simple present retorts, present participle retorting, simple past and past participle retorted)

• (transitive) To heat in a retort.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA: /ɹɪˈtɔɹt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ɹɪˈtɔːt/
• Audio (UK): 🔊
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t
• Hyphenation: re‧tort

Etymology 1

From Middle English retorte, from Latin retortus, from retorquēre (“to be forced to twist back”).

Etymology 2

From French retorte.

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Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

1. 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Ayrsham Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020: ↩

2. 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a] nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a] nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC: ↩

3. 1829, Robert Southey, “”, in Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society. […], volume, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC: ↩

4. c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]: ↩

5. 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 162: ↩

6. 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Naval Treaty, Norton, page 670: ↩

7. March 1920, Alice Ballantine Kirjassoff, “FORMOSA THE BEAUTIFUL”, in National Geographic Magazine ‎${}^{[1]}$, page 268: ↩

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