A.Word.A.Day -- rejoinder

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A.Word.A.Day--rejoinder

This week's theme: Words related to repartee

rejoinder (ri-JOIN-duhr) noun

1. A sharp reply; retort.
2. In law, the defendant's answer to the plaintiff's reply/replication.

From Middle French rejoindre (to rejoin), from re- + joindre (to join), from Latin iungere. Ultimately from Indo-European root yeug- (to join), that is also the root of yoga, yoke, junction, jugular, junta, and adjust.

"But in a quick rejoinder, Chiaba, who is a Kanu life member, dismissed the officials as 'busybodies who are serving their masters in Nairobi'."
Ayub Savula; I Want Cabinet Post, Says MP; The Standard (Nairobi, Kenya); Dec 15, 2005.

See more usage examples of rejoinder in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus

As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests. -Gore Vidal, writer (1925- )

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