different between fit vs answer

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Etymology 1

Possibly from Middle English fit (“an adversary of equal power”).

Adjective

fit (comparative fitter, superlative fittest)

1. Suitable, proper.
2. Adapted to a purpose or environment.
3. In good shape; physically well.

4. (Britain, informal, chiefly slang) Sexually attractive; good-looking; fanciable.
5. Prepared; ready.

   • So fit to shoot, she singled forth among her foes who first her quarry's strength should feel.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

fit (third-person singular simple present fits, present participle fitting, simple past and past participle fitted or fit)

1. (transitive) To be suitable for.
   • 1918, Richard Dennis Teall Hollister, Speech-making, publ. George Wahr, pg. 81:

     The speaker should be certain that his subject fits the occasion.

2. (transitive) To conform to in size and shape.

3. (intransitive) To be of the right size and shape
   • 2016 February 2, Kate Winslet & al., Jimmy Kimmel Live!

     Even though in a way you let him freeze to death in the water, because the way I see it...
     I agree. Y'know, I think he actually could have fitted on that bit of door.
     There was plenty of room on the raft.
     I know. I know, I know.

4. (transitive, with to) To make conform in size and shape.
   1. (transitive) To tailor; to change to the appropriate size.

5. (transitive) To be in agreement with.
6. (transitive) To adjust.

7. (transitive) To attach, especially when requiring exact positioning or sizing.
8. (transitive) To equip or supply.

9. (transitive) To make ready.
10. (intransitive, archaic) To be seemly.
11. To be proper or becoming.
12. (intransitive) To be in harmony.

Usage notes

• In senses 1 to 6, this is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

fit (plural fits)

1. The degree to which something fits.

2. Conformity of elements one to another.

3. The part of an object upon which anything fits tightly.
4. (advertising) Measure of how well a particular commercial execution captures the character or values of a brand.

5. (statistics) Goodness of fit.
6. (bridge) The quality of a partnership's combined holding of cards in a suit, particularly of trump.

Usage notes

Usually used in the singular preceded by an indefinite article and an adjective.

Translations

References

• (advertising): The Advertising Research Handbook Charles E. Young, Ideas in Flight, Seattle, Washington, April 2005

Etymology 2

Unknown, possibly from Old English fitt (“song”), or from the sense of fitted to length.

Noun

fit (plural fits)

1. (archaic) A section of a poem or ballad.
   • 1771, Samuel Johnson, "Letter to Bennet Langton, Esq. (March 20)," in James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol 2:

     Dr. Percy has written a long ballad in many fits.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary: fit, fyte n. 1

Etymology 3

Unknown, possibly from Old English fitt (“conflict”).Probably cognate with Italian fitta (“pain, especially sudden and stabbing pain”).See more at Latin f?gere.

Noun

fit (plural fits)

1. A seizure or convulsion.

2. (medicine) A sudden and vigorous appearance of a symptom over a short period of time.
3. A sudden outburst of emotion.

   Synonyms: blowout, hissy, tantrum, spell, moment

4. A sudden burst (of an activity).

   Synonyms: flurry, frenzy, paroxysm

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

fit (third-person singular simple present fits, present participle fitting, simple past and past participle fitted)

1. (intransitive, medicine) To suffer a fit.
   • 2016, 18 May, Three dogs die and seven more ill after drinking from the same Kent lake amid contamination fears (in The Telegraph)

     A spokesman said: "It is believed they (the dogs) got into the lake and drank from it. They came out and started fitting. Shortly after that three of them died and vets are attempting to resuscitate the other one."

Etymology 4

Verb

fit

1. (African-American Vernacular, dated) Fought.
   • Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho

     Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down

Anagrams

• ITF, TIF, if't

Azerbaijani

Etymology

Of onomatopoetic origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [fit]

Noun

fit (definite accusative fiti, plural fitl?r)

1. whistle
2. siren (a device that makes a piercingly loud sound as an alarm or signal, or the sound from such a device)

Declension

Derived terms

• fit çalmaq (“to whistle”)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?fit/
• Rhymes: -it

Adjective

fit (feminine fita, masculine plural fits, feminine plural fites)

1. fixed (of eyes, regard, etc.)

Noun

fit m (plural fits)

1. target

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from English fit.

Pronunciation

Adjective

fit

1. (Cantonese) fit (physically well; in good shape)

Czech

Adjective

fit

1. fit, healthy

Usage notes

• This adjective is indeclinable.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?t

Adjective

fit (comparative fitter, superlative fitst)

1. fit (in good shape)

Inflection

French

Pronunciation

Verb

fit

1. third-person singular past historic of faire

German

Etymology

From English fit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Adjective

fit (comparative fitter, superlative am fittesten)

1. fit (in good physical shape)

Declension

Derived terms

• Fitmacher
• Fitness (rarely Fitheit)

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??t/
• Rhymes: -??t

Noun

fit f (genitive singular fitjar, nominative plural fitjar)

1. (zoology) web, interdigital webbing, a membrane that connects the digits of an animal
2. (knitting) a casting on, casting on

Declension

Related terms

• breiðafit
• fitja
• fuglafit
• fuglsfit
• gullfit
• hundafit
• lykkjufit
• Halldórufit
• silfurfit
• skollafit
• sundfit

Further reading

• A deliberation on the word "fit" on the Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum ("Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies")

Latin

Verb

fit

1. third-person singular present passive indicative of faci?
2. third-person singular present active indicative of f??

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From English fit, probably through German fit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fit/
• Rhymes: -it

Adjective

fit (masculine fitten, neuter fit, comparative méi fit, superlative am fitsten)

1. fit (in good shape)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse fit.

Noun

fit f (definite singular fita or fiti, indefinite plural fitjar or fiter, definite plural fitjane or fitene)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2012; superseded by fet

Old Norse

Noun

fit f (genitive fitjar, plural fitjar)

1. (zoology, anatomy) webbed foot (of swimming birds)
2. (zoology, anatomy) flippers (of a seal)
3. (landform) meadowland on the banks of a lake or river

Declension

References

• fit in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Scots

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

fit (plural fits)

1. foot
2. lower end (of a street, river, field etc)

Derived terms

• fitbaw

Verb

fit (third-person singular present fits, present participle fitin, past fitt, past participle fitt)

1. to foot

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronoun

fit

1. Doric form of what

Volapük

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [fit]

Noun

fit (nominative plural fits)

1. (male or female) fish (cold-blooded vertebrate)

Declension

Derived terms

See also

English

Wikiquote

Alternative forms

• answeare, aunswer, aunswere (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???n.s?/, /?an.s?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?æn.s?/
• (æ-tensing, rhotic) IPA^(key): [?e?n.s?]
• (æ-tensing, non-rhotic) IPA^(key): [?e?n.s?]
• Hyphenation: an?swer
• Rhymes: -??ns?(?), -æns?(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English answere, andsware, from Old English andswaru (“answer”), from and- (“against”) +? -swaru (“affirmation”), (from Proto-Indo-European *h?ent- (“front, forehead”) and Old English swerian (“to swear”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer-), suggesting an original meaning of "a sworn statement rebutting a charge". The cognates suggest the existence of Proto-Germanic *andaswar? (“a reply to a question”). Cognate with Old Frisian ondser (“answer”), Old Saxon andsw?r (“answer”), Danish and Swedish ansvar (“liability, responsibility, answer”), Icelandic andsvar (“answer, response”). Compare also Old English andwyrde (“answer”) (cognate to Dutch antwoord, German Antwort), Old English andcwiss (“reply”), German Schwur (“oath, vow”).

Noun

answer (plural answers)

1. A response or reply; something said or done in reaction to a statement or question.

2. A solution to a problem.

3. (law) A document filed in response to a complaint, responding to each point raised in the complaint and raising counterpoints.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• ask

Etymology 2

From Middle English answeren, andswaren, answerien, from Old English andswarian, answarien (“to answer, to respond, to deny an allegation under oath”), from Proto-Germanic *andaswar?n?, *andaswarjan? (“to answer, to give a response, to rebut”), from *anda- (“against”) +? *swarjan?, *swar?n? (“to swear an oath, to answer, to respond”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to swear”) and *h?ent- (“face, forehead”), equivalent to and- (“against, back”) +? swear. Cognate with Old Frisian ondswera (“to answer”), Danish ansvare (“to answer, account for”), Swedish ansvara (“to answer, account for”), Icelandic andsvara (“to answer, reply”).

Verb

answer (third-person singular simple present answers, present participle answering, simple past and past participle answered)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make a reply or response to.

2. (transitive) To speak in defence against; to reply to in defence.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To respond to a call by someone at a door or telephone, or other similar piece of equipment.

4. (transitive, intransitive) To suit a need or purpose satisfactorily.
   • 1871, Alexander J. Ellis, On Early English Pronunciation, London: Trübner & Co., Part III, Chapter 7, section 1, p. 656, footnote 1,^[1]

     Of course for publication in a newspaper, my palaeotype would not answer, but my glossotype would enable the author to give his Pennsylvania German in an English form and much more intelligibly.

5. To be accountable or responsible; to make amends.

   Synonym: answer for
6. (law) To file a document in response to a complaint.
7. To correspond to; to be in harmony with; to be in agreement with.
   • 1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Duenna, Dublin: G. Burnet et al., 1794, Act II, Scene 2, p. 25,^[2]

     Egad, I wish she had answer’d her picture as well.

   • 1793, Bryan Edwards, The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies, Dublin: Luke White, Volume II, Book V, Chapter 2, p. 231,^[3]

     The use of dunder in the making of rum, answers the purpose of yeast in the fermentation of flour.

8. To be opposite, or to act in opposition.
   • 1786, William Gilpin, Observations, relative chiefly to picturesque beauty, made in the year 1772: on several parts of England; particularly the mountains, and lakes of Cumberland, and Westmoreland, London: R. Blamire, Volume II, Section 19, p. 85,^[4]

     The windows answering each other, we could just discern the glowing horizon through them […]

9. To be or act in conformity, or by way of accommodation, correspondence, relation, or proportion; to conform; to correspond; to suit; usually with to.
10. To respond to satisfactorily; to meet successfully by way of explanation, argument, or justification; to refute.
11. To be or act in compliance with, in fulfillment or satisfaction of, as an order, obligation, or demand.
12. (obsolete) To render account to or for.
13. (obsolete) To atone for; to be punished for.
14. (obsolete) To be or act as an equivalent to, or as adequate or sufficient for; to serve for; to repay.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• question

Anagrams

• Warnes, awners, resawn

Middle English

Noun

answer

1. Alternative form of answere