answer back

verb

1. adverb to reply rudely to (a person, esp someone in authority) when one is expected to remain silent

Idioms and Phrases

see talk back .

Example Sentences

“‘I voted that way because Mr. Boehner asked me to’ is not a good answer back home,” Mulvaney says.

From The Daily Beast

It sends no answer back to me—that my human brain can understand—but it makes me feel that perhaps there is no earth at all.

From Project Gutenberg

But Mollie and Bab had no megaphone at their command through which to answer back—only two frightened girl voices.

From Project Gutenberg

Bring me a good answer back, and before three weeks I will have purged my forest of these vagabonds that brave us to our faces.

From Project Gutenberg

She flashed the answer back again, and laughed, with her cheek glowing on the pillow.

From Project Gutenberg

She and Jack had many differences of opinion, but to-night Jack was tired and her cousin decided not to answer back.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• acknowledge
• argue
• claim
• defend
• deny
• explain
• plead
• resolve
• respond
• return
• say
• solve