respondent
Americannoun
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respondents
plural
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a person who responds or makes reply.
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Law. a defendant, especially in appellate and divorce proceedings.
adjective
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giving a response; answering; responsive.
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Law. being a respondent.
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Psychology. of or relating to behavior that occurs consistently in response to a particular stimulus.
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Obsolete. corresponding.
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of respondent
1520–30; < Latin respondent- (stem of respondēns ), present participle of respondēre. See respond, -ent
Explanation
A respondent is a person who gives an answer. For example, on some Monday mornings, your teacher might feel like she is talking to the walls — although she asks questions, none of the sleepy students are willing respondents. A respondent is a person who answers a question, letter, email message, survey, or anything else that requires a response. You can see the word respond, which means "answer or reply to" in respondent. If a poll reveals that bullying is the top concern regarding school safety, you know that many respondents checked the box marked "bullying."
Vocabulary lists containing respondent
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“We are outpricing ourselves and people have to choose feeding themselves/their family vs. taking their pet to the vet,” one respondent said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
ITN CEO Rachel Corp is also listed as a respondent to the claim.
From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2026
It found nearly every respondent had used AI at some point, with personal use more common than for educational purposes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026
“Due to the tariffs, most raw materials used in manufacturing, such as steel and wire, need to be sourced domestically, and the cost keeps going up,” said a respondent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026
It is the trick of putting more than one question as one, so that a simple Yes commits the respondent to something implied.
From Logic, Inductive and Deductive by William Minto
A recent McKinsey survey found that 65% of power industry respondents are planning to use on-site generation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
And a 2021 Pew poll found that 78 percent of its respondents believe “there is some risk that an innocent person will be put to death.”
From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2026
Since the early 1950s, the American National Election Studies has asked respondents whether they think of themselves as members of the working class.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
An estimated 96% of respondents wrote to support their local ABC station, the company said, including L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
In the Times poll, 45 percent of respondents said they were in a higher class than when they grew up, while just 16 percent said they were in a lower one.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
