correspondent

American  

[kawr-uh-spon-duhnt, kor-] / ˌkɔr əˈspɒn dənt, ˌkɒr- /

noun

• correspondents
  plural

1. a person who communicates by letters.

2. a person employed by a news agency, periodical, television network, etc., to gather, report, or contribute news, articles, and the like regularly from a distant place.

3. a person who contributes a letter or letters to a newspaper, magazine, etc.

4. a person or firm that has regular business relations with another, especially at a distance.

5. a thing that corresponds to something else.

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adjective

1. consistent, similar, or analogous; corresponding.

correspondent British  

/ ˌkɒrɪˈspɒndənt /

noun

1. a person who communicates by letter or by letters

2. a person employed by a newspaper, etc, to report on a special subject or to send reports from a foreign country

3. a person or firm that has regular business relations with another, esp one in a different part of the country or abroad

4. something that corresponds to another

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adjective

1. similar or analogous

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncorrespondent
  adjective
• precorrespondent
  adjective
• correspondently
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• correspondents
  plural

Etymology

Origin of correspondent

1375–1425; late Middle English < Medieval Latin corrēspondent- (stem of corrēspondēns ), present participle of corrēspondēre to correspond; see -ent

Explanation

A correspondent is a reporter who writes or records stories on one topic or from one region. If you're hired as a radio station's financial correspondent, you'll need to do a lot of research on the economy. A journalist might work as a TV station's Middle East correspondent or a newspaper's education correspondent. You can also call yourself a correspondent if you're a regular letter or email writer, corresponding, or communicating, with someone. As an adjective, though, correspondent means "matching or agreeing." The word is rooted in the Medieval Latin correspondere, "to answer together."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

correspondent correspondents

Between 1955 and 1965, in Paris, he was a correspondent for both the International Herald Tribune and ARTnews.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

The BBC's culture correspondent Noor Nanji spoke to Chopra Jonas, and the film’s director, Orlando von Einsiedel, before its premiere in New York.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

McDonnell is a staff writer, Sánchez Vidal is a special correspondent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

Your correspondent, just to share my two cents, has been arguing that longer-term inflation-protected Treasury bonds have looked pretty cheap for some time.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026

"Chris has written so much about you. I'm sorry I'm such a poor correspondent, Chris; I found myself in a tangle of cases this past month."

From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin

Tanya Simon, the executive producer who oversaw the program’s recent success, was removed alongside correspondents Alfonsi and Vega, as well as senior editors and producers.

From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026

Meanwhile, our Middle East correspondents explore whether Iran’s diminished diplomats can broker a breakthrough to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

She has overseen a series of controversial moves, including shaking up the evening news and sacking several “60 Minutes” correspondents.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

Tasnim reported that one of its correspondents had reported that locations around the island "were struck by projectiles from the American enemy".

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

Jane Bromet, who phoned in daily reports for Outside Online,! was one of the correspondents on Fischer’s team, but she wasn’t a client and didn’t have permission to climb higher than Base Camp.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

Related Words

• contributor
• journalist
• reporter
• writer