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Assert vs Retort - What's the difference?

assert | retort |

As nouns the difference between assert and retort

is that assert is (computer science) an assert statement; a section of source code which tests whether an expected condition is true while retort is a sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback or retort can be (chemistry) a flask with a rounded base and a long neck that is bent down and tapered, used to heat a liquid for distillation.

As verbs the difference between assert and retort

is that assert is to declare with assurance or plainly and strongly; to state positively while retort is to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation or retort can be to heat in a retort.

assert

English

(Webster 1913)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (computer science) an assert statement; a section of source code which tests whether an expected condition is true.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To declare with assurance or plainly and strongly; to state positively.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
  • , author=Colin Allen , title=Do I See What You See? , volume=100, issue=2, page=168 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Numerous experimental tests and other observations have been offered in favor of animal mind reading, and although many scientists are skeptical, others assert that humans are not the only species capable of representing what others do and don’t perceive and know.}}
    he would often assert his beliefs to us
  • To use or exercise and thereby prove the existence of.
  • to assert one's authority
    Salman Rushdie has asserted his right ... to be identified as the author of this work
  • To maintain or defend, as a cause or a claim, by words or measures; to vindicate a claim or title to; as, to assert our rights and liberties.
  • The quasi-judicial pre-grant process of asserting patent rights and appeals procedures during patent examination; 'to assert' patent rights means to defend or maintain patent rights.
  • (computer science) To make true; to make equal to 1. (rfex)
  • Synonyms

    * affirm * asseverate * aver

    Anagrams

    * * * * *

    retort

    English

    (wikipedia retort)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) retortus, from .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1905, author=
  • , title= , chapter=1 citation , passage=“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. […]”}}
  • 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
  • * Milton
  • And with retorted scorn his back he turned.
  • To bend or curve back.
  • a retorted line
  • * Southey
  • With retorted head, pruned themselves as they floated.
  • To throw back; to reverberate; to reflect.
  • * Shakespeare
  • As when his virtues, shining upon others, / Heat them and they retort that heat again / To the first giver.
    Synonyms
    * (sharp reply) comeback, rejoinder, back answer

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) retorte.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chemistry) A flask with a rounded base and a long neck that is bent down and tapered, used to heat a liquid for distillation.
  • :* 1893', 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. — Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Naval Treaty’ (Norton 2005, p.670)
  • A container in which material is subjected to high temperatures]] as part of an industrial manufacturing process, especially during the smelting and [[forge, forging of metal.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To heat in a retort.