correspond
Americanverb (used without object)
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to be in agreement or conformity (often followed by with orto ).
His actions do not correspond with his words.
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to be similar or analogous; be equivalent in function, position, amount, etc. (usually followed byto ).
The U.S. Congress corresponds to the British Parliament.
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to communicate by exchange of letters.
verb
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to conform, be in agreement, or be consistent or compatible (with); tally (with)
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(usually foll by to) to be similar or analogous in character or function
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(usually foll by with) to communicate by letter
Synonym Usage
Correspond, agree, accord imply comparing persons or things and finding that they harmonize. Correspond suggests having an obvious similarity, though not agreeing in every detail: Part of this report corresponds with the facts. Agree implies having or arriving at a condition in which no essential difference of opinion or detail is evident: All the reports agree. Accord emphasizes agreeing exactly, both in fact and in point of view: This report accords with the other.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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correspondsimple
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correspondssimple
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have correspondedperfect
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has correspondedperfect
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am correspondingprogressive
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are correspondingprogressive
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is correspondingprogressive
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have been correspondingperfect progressive
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has been correspondingperfect progressive
Past
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correspondedsimple
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had correspondedperfect
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was correspondingprogressive
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were correspondingprogressive
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had been correspondingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of correspond
First recorded in 1520–30; from Middle French, from Medieval Latin corrēspondēre; equivalent to cor- + respond
Explanation
When two things correspond, they match up or are equivalent to one another. You might come up with a code in which numbers correspond to letters of the alphabet. Correspond can also mean to send messages back and forth. You can use your code to correspond with your pen pal. The word correspond can mean "communicating back and forth," like using email to correspond with a far-away cousin. It can also mean "be alike," as in having friends whose interests and personalities correspond to your own. Finally, it can be "be equal to," as in getting a score on a standardized test that corresponds with those of students taking the same subjects as you but who live in other states or countries.
Vocabulary lists containing correspond
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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ACT Vocabulary List
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"Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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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:
Based on that relationship, greater activity in Purkinje cells would be expected to correspond with lower activity in deep nuclei cells, while reduced Purkinje activity would be expected to have the opposite effect.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 1, 2026
In its annual report the fund said, “valuations of portfolio companies are estimates of fair value and may not necessarily correspond to reasonable value.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
So all these different layers to the word bait correspond to a different layer of show, correspond to each different episode.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
Even the conservative core CPI inflation reading would correspond to at least a 25-basis-point increase to the Fed’s current target range.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
The strong forces between the particles would correspond to pieces of string that went between other bits of string, as in a spider’s web.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
Unsurprisingly, she also found that language death often corresponds to ecological and cultural devastation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
High UV corresponds to an index of 6 or 7 on a scale from 0 to 11+.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
It corresponds to coastal areas with an altitude of less than 5 meters that are less than 200 metres from the sea.
From Science Daily ● May 21, 2026
She corresponds with Russian political prisoners and they passed on word of 15 Ukrainians whose families had no news of them.
From Barron's ● May 8, 2026
Our understanding of the word ‘modern’, when talking about science, thus still corresponds to theirs, and their use of the term ‘the modern’ is their way of acknowledging what we call the Scientific Revolution.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
They have corresponded with previous market tops in 2000, 2007 and 2021, according to Leuthold.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
It said the total area corresponded to "only 0.18 percent of Turkey's surface area", denouncing efforts to "tarnish the mining sector".
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
Jamieson was caught after messages written by PatrolStaff corresponded with his movements.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
Executives including Liaw allegedly corresponded about bringing in 100 people, including forklift operators, and arranging meals and a 20-person shuttle bus to help stage dummy servers in warehouses before auditors came through.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 21, 2026
And even though the birthdates corresponded to only one danger, my mother worried about them all.
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
“What I don’t see is a corresponding rise in individual prosecutions.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
In a pair of corresponding moves, the Dodgers optioned pitcher Kyle Hurt to triple-A Oklahoma City and designated pitcher Charlie Barnes for assignment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
"Past studies have shown that using machine learning to classify and understand structural data is effective," explains corresponding author Kang Kim.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
On Friday, Public Health France said there had been "an increase of 29.1 percent, corresponding to 2,025 additional deaths compared with the previous week" while noting that the figure was probably "an underestimate".
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
She pointed to a wide arch corresponding to the window, and hung like it with a Tyrian-dyed curtain, now looped up.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
