ripost

R1I1P3O1S1T1

noun

A thrust given in return after parrying a lunge.

Scrabble 8

Meanings

nounripost (plural riposts)

plural riposts · alternative riposte

  1. fencingA thrust given in return after parrying a lunge.
  2. A quick and usually witty response to a taunt.
  3. An answer or reply, rapidly uttered, in response to a question or problem.

    The French government was always apprehensive to the German Government’s ripost to an air offensive.

    1952, Thomas Allnut Brassey, Brasseys Annual: The Armed Forces Year-book, page 306
    1 more example

    Written as a ripost to Samuel Constant’s short story Le Mari sentimental, in which the husband is driven to despair and ultimately suicide by his carping wife, Mistress Henly begins with an account of the wife’s reading of the Constant story and how as a reader she links the text of imagination to the realities of her own life.

    2005, Suellen Diaconoff, Through The Reading Glass, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 110

Origin

  1. Italianrisposta
  2. Frenchriposte
  3. Englishripost

From French riposte, taken from Italian risposta, a derivative of the verb rispondere (“to respond”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish vastapisto, riposti
  • vastapistofencing: a thrust given in return
  • ripostifencing: a thrust given in return
  • vastavetoa quick and witty response to a taunt
  • vastavetoan answer or reply rapidly uttered
Spanish respuesta, respuesta
  • respuestafencing: a thrust given in return
  • respuestaa quick and witty response to a taunt
  • respuestaan answer or reply rapidly uttered
Swedish ripost, ripost
  • ripostfencing: a thrust given in return
  • riposta quick and witty response to a taunt
  • ripostan answer or reply rapidly uttered

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

ripost. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ripost

MLA

“ripost.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ripost. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ripost,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ripost.

Source: ripost on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.