autoresponder
noun
au·to·re·spond·er
ˌȯ-tō-ri-ˈspän-dər
variants
or auto-responder
or less commonly auto responder
plural autoresponders or auto-responders also auto responders
: a software feature that automatically sends a response to incoming messages (such as emails)
… it has an email autoresponder that you can use to send follow-up emails to customers after they have made a purchase.—Angela Scott-Briggs
The auto responder is a company's introduction to potential clients and customers. It sends … informational messages to site registrants. It delivers reminders about products and services.—Mitch Tuch
Think about a short message—conveyed on voice mail and on email and SMS auto-responders—that says something like: "As you can imagine, I'm very busy at the moment. …"—Kwame Anthony Appiah
also
: a response sent by an autoresponder : auto-response
"One of the most important things that I do before I go on vacation to keep me from being overwhelmed after is I put up an autoresponder that is a little bit more detailed than 'Hey, I'm out of the office from this day to this day.' …" —Anna Dearmon Kornick, quoted in HuffPost
An SMS autoresponder … is an automated message that is sent to customers. The message is triggered when a customer sends a text to the business. —PRWeb Newswire
"If you want weekends off, you can write an auto-responder that says, 'I'm away from my e-mail until Monday morning. If this is an emergency, please call me on my cell,'" suggests [Sherry] Turkle. —Liz Welch
Cite this Entry
“Autoresponder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autoresponder. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.
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