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

“It feeds on live tissue and lays its eggs in openings in animals,” says Kevin Draper, a business correspondent who covers agriculture for the New York Times.

From Slate • Jun. 11, 2026

Holly Williams: Williams has been a foreign correspondent working out of Istanbul since 2012.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026

Yaroslav Trofimov is the chief foreign-affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal, providing reported analysis of major issues and developments around the world.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026

BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions after Monaco.

From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026

But Outside magazine and Outside Online are autonomous to such a degree that I didn’t even know Outside Online had sent a correspondent to Everest until I arrived at Base Camp. third attempt on Everest.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

Related Words

• contributor
• journalist
• reporter
• writer