Answer
Answer noun - Something spoken or written in reaction especially to a question.
Usage example: the standard answer of “Fine, thank you” when asked, “How are you?”
Return is a synonym for answer in reply topic. In some cases you can use "Return" instead the word "Answer" as a verb or a noun, when it comes to topics like speech, ask, come again. popular alternative
Return
Return noun - Something spoken or written in reaction especially to a question.
Usage example: I was moved by my grandfather's lengthy return to my casual question about his experiences in the Vietnam War
Answer is a synonym for return in reply topic. You can use "Answer" instead the word "Return" as a verb or a noun, if it concerns topics such as speech, ask, come again, coming again. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
How words are described
| long | long answer | long return |
| better | better answer | better return |
| original | original answer | original return |
| true | true answer | true return |
| Other adjectives: proper, single, actual, real, big, serious, bad, quick, possible, unexpected, official, next, last, different, previous, couldn't. | ||
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
- Ask nearly any British film critic what they think was the defining Dork Age of the nation's film industry at large, and they will return with one simple answer: the 1930s.
Source: Dork Age / Film -
No matter how many times people ask him if he still wants to return to being Tsar (either as a figurehead constitutional monarch or with some degree of actual power), he gives no answer.
Source: Rightful King Returns -
Armor-Piercing Question: Genie will ask these of the Nomad to unsettle him, and sometimes gives an answer herself in return if she doesn't like the one you give her.
Source: Video Game / Middens
Cite this Source
Return and Answer. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 13, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/answer/return
Answer & Return. N.p., 2016. Web. 13 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/answer/return>.
Return or Answer. 2016. Accessed August 13, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/answer/return.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "answer" and "return" have occurred on timeline