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

BBC Sport senior football correspondent Sami Mokbel, journalist Jess Anderson and BBC Radio 5 Live's John Murray go through the big questions facing Tuchel.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

Galeano — who previously worked as a correspondent for the Associated Press in Nicaragua — believed he had a responsibility to call out what he saw as injustices perpetrated by the government.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

Katy Nastro, aviation and travel correspondent for the flight-tracker app Flighty, said even people who typically book budget airlines might be out of luck ahead of the holiday season.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

Smoke rose from the site of the fire as locals picked through the wreckage, an AFP correspondent saw.

From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026

The BBC correspondent asked for more news from Swat for the next diary post.

From "Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Changed the World" by Malala Yousafzai

Douthat is the only newcomer added to the opening credits where the correspondents introduce themselves on camera.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

The program will also feature stories with CBS News correspondents outside of the core group at “60 Minutes,” such as Seth Doane and Matt Gutman.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026

BBC correspondents in Delhi and Moscow look at what lies behind Modi's renewed appeal for peace, and Putin's response.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

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, however, he was telling other correspondents quite the opposite.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Related Words

• contributor
• journalist
• reporter
• writer