Repartee

WORD OF THE DAY

repartee / noun / rep-er-TEE

Definition
1a: a quick and witty reply
1b: a succession or interchange of clever retorts
1c: amusing and usually light sparring with words
2a: adroitness and cleverness in reply
2b: skill in repartee

Examples
“The language of the play moves between the vernacular and the elevated, informed by the repartee of TV sitcoms as well as by the poetry of William Blake.”
— Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 19 June 2022

Her cognition began to fail, an intellectual prison for a woman so invigorated by repartee and discussion.
—Hillary Kelly, The New Republic, 4 Jan. 2023

Did You Know?
Dorothy Parker was known for her repartee. Upon hearing that former president Calvin Coolidge had died, the poet, short-story writer, screenwriter, and critic—famous for her acerbic wit—replied, “How can they tell?”
 The taciturn Coolidge, aka “Silent Cal,” obviously didn’t have a reputation for being the life of the party, but he could be counted on for the occasional bon mot, as when a Washington, D.C., hostess told him, “You must talk to me, Mr. President. I made a bet today that I could get more than two words out of you,” and he replied, “You lose.”
Repartee, our word for a quick, sharp reply (and for skill with such replies) comes from the French repartie, of the same meaning.
Repartie itself is formed from the French verb repartir, meaning “to retort.”