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Retort vs Conversation - What's the difference?

retort | conversation |

As nouns the difference between retort and conversation

is that retort is a sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback while conversation is expression and exchange of individual ideas through talking with other people; also, a set instance or occasion of such talking.

As verbs the difference between retort and conversation

is that retort is to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation while conversation is to engage in conversation (with).

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.

    • Anagrams

    * English reporting verbs

    conversation

    English

    (wikipedia conversation)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Expression and exchange of individual ideas through talking with other people; also, a set instance or occasion of such talking.
  • * 1699 , , Heads designed for an essay on conversations
    • Study gives strength to the mind; conversation , grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.}}
  • * , chapter=12
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill.
  • (fencing) The back-and-forth play of the blades in a bout.
  • (obsolete) Interaction; commerce or intercourse with other people; dealing with others.
  • * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Acts XI:
    • Yt chaunsed thatt a whole yere they had their conversacion with the congregacion there, and taught moche people insomoche thatt the disciples off Antioche we the fyrst that wer called Christen.
  • (archaic) Behaviour, the way one conducts oneself; a person's way of life.
  • *, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.50:
    • There are many that take no heed what happeneth to others by bad conversation , and therefore overthrow themselves in the same manner through their own fault, not foreseeing dangers manifest.
  • (obsolete) Sexual intercourse.
  • * 1723 , Charles Walker, Memoirs of the Life of Sally Salisbury :
    • (Ariadne)quitted her Lover (Theseus), for the tumultuous Conversation of (Bacchus).
  • * 1749 , (Henry Fielding), , Folio Society 1973, p. 333:
    • The landlady therefore would by no means have admitted any conversation of a disreputable kind to pass under her roof.
  • (computing) The protocol-based interaction between systems processing a transaction.

    • Synonyms

    * (expression and exchange of ideas through talking) banter, chat, chinwag, dialogue, discussion, interlocution, powwow, table talk

    Derived terms

    * conversational * conversation piece

    Related terms

    * converse * conversant

    Usage notes

    * To make conversation means to start a conversation with someone with no other aim than to talk and break the silence. * To have' a conversation, and to ' hold a conversation, both mean to converse. * See

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (nonstandard, ambitransitive) To engage in conversation (with).
  • * 1983 , James Frederick Mason, Hélène Joséphine Harvitt, The French review
    • Gone now are the "high-minded" style, the "adapted from literature" feel, the voice-over narration, and the abstract conversationing about ideas, values...
  • * 1989 , Robert L Gale, A Henry James encyclopedia
    • ...he has breakfasted me, dined me, conversationed me, absolutely caressed me. He has been really most kind and paternal...
  • * 2002 , Georgie Nickell, I Only Smoke on Thursdays
    • After all this conversationing , Scottie, my usual dance partner, was getting antsy and wanted to dance.

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

    * ----