respondent

noun re·spon·dent \ ri-ˈspän-dənt \

Updated on: 10 Apr 2018

Definition of respondent

1 : one who responds: such as

a : one who maintains a thesis in reply

b (1) : one who answers in various legal proceedings (as in equity cases)

(2) : the prevailing party in the lower court

c : a person who responds to a poll

2 : a reflex that occurs in response to a specific external stimulus — compare operant

See respondent defined for English-language learners

Examples of respondent in a Sentence

A majority of respondents said they disagreed with the mayor's plan.

Recent Examples of respondent from the Web

Eighty-seven percent of respondents had done so online.

— michelle r. smith, BostonGlobe.com, "A test of the 2020 census in Rhode Island brings out critics," 7 Apr. 2018
Sixty-four percent of respondents think men will be less willing to mentor women in the workplace since #MeToo.

— heidi stevens, chicagotribune.com, "Think the #MeToo movement is a good thing? You're probably a Democratic woman," 5 Apr. 2018
Forty-four percent of respondents backed the industrial action, up from 38 percent two weeks earlier.

— helene fouquet, Bloomberg.com, "France's Philippe Offers to Ease Rail Co. Debts in Strike Talks," 5 Apr. 2018
Interestingly, there’s no gender divide among those who believe that false reports are a major problem: that 31% of respondents is split equally between men and women.

— kristen bellstrom, Fortune, "An Alarming Share of Americans Think Women Are Making False #MeToo Claims," 4 Apr. 2018
As a result, the survey found more than half of respondents reported experiencing some form of discrimination, including verbal harassment and physical assault.

— julie moreau /, NBC News, "Four transgender people sue Ohio over state's birth certificate policy," 3 Apr. 2018
Of these, over 30 percent of respondents had seen skin disorders in captive giraffes, and, of these cases, 70 percent, or 14 cases, were giraffe skin disease.

— robert montgomery, National Geographic, "Mysterious Giraffe Disease Has Scientists Baffled," 30 Mar. 2018
According to the aforementioned American Express study, one third of respondents prefer to give cash as a wedding gift.

— brooke bobb, Vogue, "How Much Should You Spend on a Wedding Gift? 11 Rules for Wedding Gift Etiquette," 29 Mar. 2018
Only 9% of respondents said baseball is their favorite (football remains at the top, with 37%).

— bob greene, WSJ, "When a Ballplayer Earned $50,000—and It Was a Dirty Secret," 28 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'respondent.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of respondent

Latin respondent-, respondens, present participle of respondēre

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1528

See Words from the same year

Other Legal Terms

actionable, alienable, carceral, chattel, complicity, decedent, larceny, malfeasance, modus operandi

respondent

adjective

Definition of respondent

1 : making response : responsive; especially : being a respondent at law

2 : relating to or being behavior or responses to a stimulus that are followed by a reward

respondent conditioning

— compare operant 3

Recent Examples of respondent from the Web

Absent a robust and respondent welfare state, protests have become a routine — and occasionally effective — means of social negotiation between citizens, workers and public officials.

— chantal berman, Washington Post, "Why do Tunisians keep protesting?," 19 Jan. 2018