Riposte

 WORD OF THE DAY

riposte / noun / rih-POHST

Definition
1: a fencer's quick return thrust following a parry
2a: a retaliatory verbal sally
2b: retort
3: a retaliatory maneuver or measure

Examples
"As a riposte to the status quo, the studio has created Pendler, a conceptual urban e-bike pitched at commuters, meticulously designed and carefully shaped to be safer, more practical, and better performing that its rivals."
— Jonathan Bell, Wallpaper (wallpaper.com), 21 July 2022

Today, Dyett High School for the Arts stands as a riposte to shameful cuts of previous decades that all but eradicated arts education from its halls.
— Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 13 July 2022

Did You Know?
In the sport of fencing, a riposte is a counterattack made after successfully fending off one's opponent.
English speakers borrowed the name for this particular maneuver from French in the early 1700s, but the French had simply modified the Italian word risposta, which literally means "answer."
Ultimately these words come from the Latin verb respondēre, meaning "to respond."
It seems fitting that riposte has since come full circle to now refer to a quick and witty response performed as a form of retaliation.