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answerless

answerless

7.9
Not giving any reply and staying silent
  • adjective
  • /ˈænsərləs/
translation icon : sin respuesta
  • He stared at the letter with an answerless expression, unsure how to respond.

Examples

  • Her message was met with an answerless silence that made her feel ignored.

  • The room remained answerless after she asked her difficult question.

  • The audience sat in answerless silence after the shocking announcement.

  • He remained answerless despite the many questions posed to him.

  • She asked him a question, but he remained answerless, staring into space.

  • The teacher called on the student, but he sat there answerless, not knowing what to say.

  • After the difficult exam, many students felt answerless about the questions they had encountered.

Synonyms

silent
vsanswerless
397 1.0

Not speaking when people expect an answer

covers lack of reply and other failures to react, not only refusing to speak
unresponsive
vsanswerless
10 4.9

Not answering or showing interest when someone asks

focuses on having no reply or being silent rather than lack of interest
nonresponsive
vsanswerless
3 6.2

Not reacting to a question or an action

is broader, covering both silence and lack of reply to prompts

Antonyms

responsive
  • Texting
4 4.4

Involves short replies spoken by a leader and a group

How Responsive

responsive
  • Texting
4 4.4
reserved
3.7
silent
397 1.0
answerless
7.9
unresponsive
10 4.9

Surface Forms

answerless positive

Morphology

answerless = answer (transparent) = answer + less

The sense 'not giving or showing any reply' follows directly from 'answer' + '-less' and is easily derivable by learners.

Etymology

Answerless comes from answer and the ending -less, where answer means 'a reply' and -less means 'without', like in speechless. So an answerless look or message has no reply and feels silent or unresponsive.