retort

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈtɔɹt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈtɔːt/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t
• Hyphenation: re‧tort

From Middle English retorte, from Latin retortus, from retorquēre (“to be forced to twist back”).

retort (plural retorts)

1. A sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback.

   He countered her insult with a clever retort.

retort (third-person singular simple present retorts, present participle retorting, simple past and past participle retorted)

1. To say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation.
   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Ayrsham Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     “It is a pity,” he retorted with aggravating meekness, “that they do not use a little common sense. The case resembles that of Columbus'  egg, and is every bit as simple. […]”

2. To make a remark which reverses an argument upon its originator; to return, as an argument, accusation, censure, or incivility.

   to retort the charge of vanity

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     And with retorted scorn his back he turned.

3. To bend or curve back.

   a retorted line

   • 1829, Robert Southey, “(please specify the page)”, in Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

     With retorted head, pruned themselves as they floated.

4. To throw back; to reverberate; to reflect.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

     As when his virtues, shining upon others, / Heat them and they retort that heat again / To the first giver.

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 162:

     Glasses were filled, arresting the trooper on a theme of passion; the pariahdom of the country cop, whose self-respect is to retort the law's blackmail for blackmail levied on his self-respect.

• (sharp reply): comeback, rejoinder, back answer

From French retorte.

retort (plural retorts)

2. (chemistry) A flask with a rounded base and a long neck that is bent down and tapered, used to heat a liquid for distillation.

   Hyponym: pelican

   • 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Naval Treaty, Norton, page 670:

     A large curved retort was boiling furiously in the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and the distilled drops were condensing into a two-litre measure.

3. An airtight vessel in which material is subjected to high temperatures in the chemical industry or as part of an industrial manufacturing process, especially during the smelting and forging of metal.
4. A pressure cooker.
   • March 1920, Alice Ballantine Kirjassoff, “FORMOSA THE BEAUTIFUL”, in National Geographic Magazine‎^[1], page 268:

     The retort is above boiling water. Beneath is a furnace. To the right a man is removing the chips from which the camphor has been extracted.

5. A crematory furnace.

retort (third-person singular simple present retorts, present participle retorting, simple past and past participle retorted)

1. (transitive) To heat in a retort.

• Retort in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• Retort on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Rotert, Rotter, rotter

Learned borrowing from Latin retortus, past participle of retorqueō (“I twist”). Doublet of redort.

retort (feminine retorta, masculine plural retorts, feminine plural retortes)

1. devious
2. twisted

retort m (plural retorts)

1. twilled yarn

• retòrcer
• retorquir
• retorta
• tort

• “retort”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.

Borrowed from Middle French retorte, from Latin retorta.

• IPA^(key): /rəˈtɔrt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: re‧tort
• Rhymes: -ɔrt

retort f or n (plural retorten)

1. (chemistry) retort (flask used for distillation)