repartee

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From French repartie, deverbal of repartir (to retort)

[edit] Noun

repartee (plural repartees)

  1. A swift, witty retort.
  2. A conversation marked by a series of witty retorts.
    • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
      Yet habit—strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?—Gayer sallies, more merry mirth, better jokes, and brighter repartees, you never heard over your mahogany...

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

repartee (third-person singular simple present repartees, present participle reparteeing, simple past and past participle reparteed)

  1. To reply with a repartee
    • 1862, Various, The Continental Monthly[1], Vol. 2 No 4:
      Aubrey speaks of him as 'incomparable at reparteeing, the bull that was bayted, his witt beinge most sparkling, when most set on and provoked.'
  2. To have a repartee (conversation marked by repartees)
    • 1913, Gouverneur Morris, The Penalty[2]:
      To see them together, friendly, reparteeing, chummy, would turn your stomach--Barbara so exquisite and high-born, and the man, his eyes full of evil fires, sitting like a great toad on the model's chair.

[edit] Anagrams

Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Views
Actions
Navigation
Toolbox
In other languages