Meanings
plural riposts · alternative riposte
- A quick and usually witty response to a taunt.
- 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 3061 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
- Italianrisposta
- Frenchriposte
- Englishripost
From French riposte, taken from Italian risposta, a derivative of the verb rispondere (“to respond”).
More words from French, Italian
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
ripost. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ripost
“ripost.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ripost. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ripost,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ripost.
Source: ripost on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.