retort(动词/名词)主要指(尤指机智或尖刻地)反驳、回嘴;作名词时指反驳的话、回击。
(另有较专业用法:名词可指化学中的“蒸馏器/曲颈瓶”等。)
/ɹɪˈtɔːɹt/
He retorted, “That’s not true.”
他回嘴道:“那不是真的。”
When accused of cheating, she retorted that the rules were unclear and that everyone had been doing the same thing for weeks.
当被指控作弊时,她反驳说规则不明确,而且大家几周来一直都在做同样的事。
来自拉丁语 retorquēre,意为“扭回去、反扭”,由 **re-**(回、向后)+ torquēre(扭转)构成。引申到语言中,就像把对方的话“扭回去”一样,形成“回击、反驳”的含义。