respondent
Americannoun
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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
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.
One checks he's answering the question, one analyses whether he's being too superficial and needs prompting to go deeper, while the third checks that the respondent is not a fraud… not a robot, for example.
From BBC • Apr. 30, 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 was probably the ugliest environment that I’ve been in,” said one respondent.
From Barron's • Feb. 20, 2026
Indeed, Mr. A., the respondent in the Dialogue, frankly admits, for himself and doubtless for his associates, that their doings had in them no semblance of Fourierism.
From History of American Socialisms by Noyes, John Humphrey
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.
