Answer vs Explain - What's the difference?
answer | explain |
A response or reply; something said]] or [[do, done in reaction to a statement or question.
A solution to a problem.
(legal) A document filed in response to a complaint, responding to each point raised in the complaint and raising counterpoints.
(ambitransitive) To make a reply or response to.
* Bible, 1 Kings xviii. 26
* Shakespeare
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=“Well,” I answered , at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.}}
To speak in defence against; to reply to in defence.
(ambitransitive) To respond to a call by someone at a door or telephone, or other similar piece of equipment.
To suit a need or purpose satisfactorily.
* Alexander Ellis
* 1903 , , (The Way of All Flesh) , Ch. 41
To be accountable or responsible; to make amends.
* Shakespeare
(legal) To file a document in response to a complaint.
To correspond to; to be in harmony with; to be in agreement with.
* 1775 , (Richard Brinsley Sheridan), (The Duenna) , Act 2, Scene 2
* B. Edwards
To be opposite, or to act in opposition.
* Gilpin
To be or act in conformity, or by way of accommodation, correspondence, relation, or proportion; to conform; to correspond; to suit; usually with to .
* Jonathan Swift
* Shakespeare
* Shakespeare
* Bible, Proverbs xxvii. 19
To respond to satisfactorily; to meet successfully by way of explanation, argument, or justification; to refute.
* Bible, Matt. xxii. 46
* Milton
* Macaulay
To be or act in compliance with, in fulfillment or satisfaction of, as an order, obligation, or demand.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) To render account to or for.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) To atone; to be punished for.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) To be or act as an equivalent to, or as adequate or sufficient for; to serve for; to repay.
* Bible, Eccles. x. 19
To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
*
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
, author=, volume=100, issue=2, page=106
, magazine=(American Scientist)
, title= To give a valid excuse for some past behavior.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
, volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.
(obsolete) To unfold or make visible.
* (John Evelyn) (1620-1706)
In obsolete terms the difference between answer and explain
is that answer is to be or act as an equivalent to, or as adequate or sufficient for; to serve for; to repay while explain is to unfold or make visible.As verbs the difference between answer and explain
is that answer is to make a reply or response to while explain is to make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.As a noun answer
is a response or reply; something said or done in reaction to a statement or question.answer
English
(wikipedia answer)Alternative forms
* (both obsolete)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), andsware, from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- Her answer to his proposal was a slap in the face .
- There is no simple answer to corruption.
Derived terms
() * answerless * answer on a postcard * answerphone * answer printSee also
* askEtymology 2
From (etyl) answeren, andswaren, from (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- There was no voice, nor any that answered .
- She answers him as if she knew his mind.
- to answer a charge or accusation
- Nobody answered when I knocked on the door.
- Of course for publication in a newspaper, my palaeotype would not answer , but my glossotype would enable the author to give his Pennsylvania German in an English form and much more intelligibly.
- Theobald spoke as if watches had half-a-dozen purposes besides time-keeping, but he could hardly open his mouth without using one or other of his tags, and "answering every purpose" was one of them.
- The man must answer to his employer for the money entrusted to his care.
- Let his neck answer for it, if there is any martial law.
- I wish she had answered her picture as well.
- The use of dunder in the making of rum answers the purpose of yeast in the fermentation of flour.
- The windows answering each other, we could just discern the glowing horizon through them.
- Weapons must needs be dangerous things, if they answered the bulk of so prodigious a person.
- That the time may have all shadow and silence in it, and the place answer to convenience.
- If this but answer to my just belief, / I'll remember you.
- As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.
- No man was able to answer him a word.
- These shifts refuted, answer thine appellant.
- The reasoning was not and could not be answered .
- He answered my claim upon him.
- The servant answered the bell.
- This proud king studies day and night / To answer all the debts he owes unto you.
- I will send him to answer thee.
- And grievously hath Caesar answered it.
- Money answereth all things.
Derived terms
() * answerable * answer at * answer back * answerer * answer for * answer the call of nature * answer the helm * answer toSee also
* questionexplain
English
(Explanation)Verb
(en verb)- The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits. He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. Nobody would miss them, he explained .
Pixels or Perish, passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}
Fantasy of navigation, passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].}}
- The horse-chestnut isready to explain its leaf.
