What's the difference between reply and return?

Reply


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To make a return in words or writing; to respond; to answer.
  • (v. i.) To answer a defendant's plea.
  • (v. i.) Figuratively, to do something in return for something done; as, to reply to a signal; to reply to the fire of a battery.
  • (v. t.) To return for an answer.
  • (v. i.) That which is said, written, or done in answer to what is said, written, or done by another; an answer; a response.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I said: ‘Apologies for doing this publicly, but I did try to get a meeting with you, and I couldn’t even get a reply.’ And then I had a massive go at him – about everything really, from poverty to uni fees to NHS waiting times.” She giggles again.
  • (2) Responses to a monthly survey of 450-500 surveyors (usually 250-300 reply).
  • (3) When asked why the streets of London were not heaving with demonstrators protesting against Russia turning Aleppo into the Guernica of our times, Stop the War replied that it had no wish to add to the “jingoism” politicians were whipping up against plucky little Russia .
  • (4) Can somebody who is not a billionaire, who stands for working families, actually win an election into which billionaires are pouring millions of dollars?” Naming prominent and controversial rightwing donors, he said: “It is not just Hillary, it is the Koch brothers, it is Sheldon Adelson.” Stephanopoulos seized the moment, asking: “Are you lumping her in with them?” Choosing to refer to the 2010 supreme court decision that removed limits on corporate political donations, rather than address the question directly, Sanders replied: “What I am saying is that I get very frightened about the future of American democracy when this becomes a battle between billionaires.
  • (5) According to the report filed by the New York state department of financial services (NYSDFS), when warned by a US colleague about dealings with Iran, a Standard Chartered executive caustically replied: "You f---ing Americans.
  • (6) A survey sent randomly to 30 retail pharmacies got 24 replies.
  • (7) To which Salim replies: “But you do.” When such intimacy between two men can be broadcast to an audience of millions, we are shown that the ways of portraying gay sex can be reframed.
  • (8) Of 519 patients on the waiting list, replies were received from 471 (91%).
  • (9) Justice Hiley later suggested the conduct required by a doctor outside of his profession, as Chapman was describing it, was perhaps a “broad generality” and not specific enough “to create an ethical obligation.” “It’s no broader than the Hippocratic oath,” Chapman said in her reply.
  • (10) "Most technologies have their bright and dark side," he replies, buoyantly.
  • (11) Asked about white predominance in the sport, South African rugby journalist Paul Dobson replied: "If you suggest that again I'll get annoyed and put the phone down.
  • (12) #WhitePrideWorldWide.” Anonymous replied in true vigilante style on Sunday, by taking control of the KKK Twitter account and replacing the logo with its own.
  • (13) Asked what form the arrangements could take, the peer replied: "Wherever we think that there's something happening that is undesirable and we're looking very carefully at how to draw up those protections."
  • (14) Asked if he thought the committee had been misled, Whittingdale replied: "I'm not sure yet."
  • (15) "I can't decide by myself," Mourinho replied when asked how the injuries would influence his team selection at Anfield.
  • (16) Last year he was asked how it was mathematically possible for all schools to exceed the national average, and replied: " By getting better all the time. "
  • (17) I watched some boxing last night," he replies in his faint, lisping voice.
  • (18) The other example is of a woman who had a child who died at the age of 10 and expressed no regrets, but when questioned about whether she would have continued a pregnancy knowingly aware the baby would die in 10 years, the woman replied that she could not imagine how anyone could be so strong as to bear a child knowing the brevity of its life.
  • (19) Asked whether the US tax code was convoluted and difficult to understand partly because of lobbying by companies including Apple for exemptions, Cook replied: "No doubt."
  • (20) Rule one surely is to reply to customers' phone calls and letters.

Return


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To turn back; to go or come again to the same place or condition.
  • (v. i.) To come back, or begin again, after an interval, regular or irregular; to appear again.
  • (v. i.) To speak in answer; to reply; to respond.
  • (v. i.) To revert; to pass back into possession.
  • (v. i.) To go back in thought, narration, or argument.
  • (v. t.) To bring, carry, send, or turn, back; as, to return a borrowed book, or a hired horse.
  • (v. t.) To repay; as, to return borrowed money.
  • (v. t.) To give in requital or recompense; to requite.
  • (v. t.) To give back in reply; as, to return an answer; to return thanks.
  • (v. t.) To retort; to throw back; as, to return the lie.
  • (v. t.) To report, or bring back and make known.
  • (v. t.) To render, as an account, usually an official account, to a superior; to report officially by a list or statement; as, to return a list of stores, of killed or wounded; to return the result of an election.
  • (v. t.) Hence, to elect according to the official report of the election officers.
  • (v. t.) To bring or send back to a tribunal, or to an office, with a certificate of what has been done; as, to return a writ.
  • (v. t.) To convey into official custody, or to a general depository.
  • (v. t.) To bat (the ball) back over the net.
  • (v. t.) To lead in response to the lead of one's partner; as, to return a trump; to return a diamond for a club.
  • (n.) The act of returning (intransitive), or coming back to the same place or condition; as, the return of one long absent; the return of health; the return of the seasons, or of an anniversary.
  • (n.) The act of returning (transitive), or sending back to the same place or condition; restitution; repayment; requital; retribution; as, the return of anything borrowed, as a book or money; a good return in tennis.
  • (n.) That which is returned.
  • (n.) A payment; a remittance; a requital.
  • (n.) An answer; as, a return to one's question.
  • (n.) An account, or formal report, of an action performed, of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, and the like; as, election returns; a return of the amount of goods produced or sold; especially, in the plural, a set of tabulated statistics prepared for general information.
  • (n.) The profit on, or advantage received from, labor, or an investment, undertaking, adventure, etc.
  • (n.) The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, as a molding or mold; -- applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer; thus, a facade of sixty feet east and west has a return of twenty feet north and south.
  • (n.) The rendering back or delivery of writ, precept, or execution, to the proper officer or court.
  • (n.) The certificate of an officer stating what he has done in execution of a writ, precept, etc., indorsed on the document.
  • (n.) The sending back of a commission with the certificate of the commissioners.
  • (n.) A day in bank. See Return day, below.
  • (n.) An official account, report, or statement, rendered to the commander or other superior officer; as, the return of men fit for duty; the return of the number of the sick; the return of provisions, etc.
  • (n.) The turnings and windings of a trench or mine.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) If Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, who bought the island in 1738, were to return today he would doubtless recognise the scene, though he might be surprised that his small private buildings have grown into a sizable hotel.
  • (2) Until his return to Brazil in 1985, Niemeyer worked in Israel, France and north Africa, designing among other buildings the University of Haifa on Mount Carmel; the campus of Constantine University in Algeria (now known as Mentouri University); the offices of the French Communist party and their newspaper l'Humanité in Paris; and the ministry of external relations and the cathedral in Brasilia.
  • (3) Squadron Leader Kevin Harris, commander of the Merlins at Camp Bastion, the main British base in Helmand, praised the crews, adding: "The Merlins will undergo an extensive programme of maintenance and cleaning before being packed up, ensuring they return to the UK in good order."
  • (4) Blood flow decreased immediately after skin expansion in areas over the tissue expander on days 0 and 1 and returned to baseline levels within 24 hours.
  • (5) Eighty-two per cent of patients with falciparum malaria had recently returned from Africa whereas 82% with vivax malaria had visited Asia.
  • (6) Other haematological parameters remained normal, with the exception of the absolute number of lymphocytes, which initially fell sharply but soon returned to, and even exceeded, control levels.
  • (7) Since the advance and return of sperm inside the tubes could facilitate the interaction of sperm with secretions participating in its maturation, the persistent infertility after vasectomy could be related to the contractile alteration that follows the excessive tubal distention.
  • (8) In documents due to be published by the bank, it will signal a need to shed costs from a business that employs 10,000 people as it scrambles to return to profit.
  • (9) Compared with conservative management, better long-term success (determined by return of athletic soundness and less evidence of degenerative joint disease) was achieved with surgical curettage of elbow subchondral cystic lesions.
  • (10) I can see you use humour as a defence mechanism, so in return I could just tell you that if he's massively rich or famous and you've decided you'll put up with it to please him, you'll eventually discover it's not worth it.
  • (11) Though the 54-year-old designer made brief returns to the limelight after his fall from grace, designing a one-off collection for Oscar de la Renta last year , his appointment at Margiela marks a more permanent comeback.
  • (12) In order for the club to grow and sustain its ability to be a competitive force in the Premier League, the board has made a number of decisions which will strengthen the club, support the executive team, manager and his staff and enhance shareholder return.
  • (13) Results indicate that energy had not returned to patients' satisfaction in 37% of the cases.
  • (14) By the time Van Kirk returned to the US in June 1943, he had flown 58 combat and eight transport missions.
  • (15) Mice also had a decreased ability to develop delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions while being given cadmium; this abnormality also returned toward normal after withdrawal of cadmium.
  • (16) Of the 138 patients who were admitted to the study, only seventy-one (51 per cent) could be followed for an average of 3.5 years (a typical return rate of urban trauma centers).
  • (17) These results indicate that during IPPV the increased Pcv attenuates the pressure gradient for venous return and decreases CO and that the compensatory increase in Psf is caused by a blood shift from unstressed to stressed blood volume.
  • (18) A 99.0% response rate was obtained: 2750 of a possible 2778 diaries were returned.
  • (19) Dominic Fifield Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ravel Morrison, who has been on loan at QPR, may be set for a return to Loftus Road.
  • (20) But whatever they invested in me, they got in return 10, 20 times more.