respondent

noun

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re·spon·dent | \ ri-ˈspän-dənt

Definition of respondent

(Entry 1 of 2)

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

respondent

adjective

Definition of respondent (Entry 2 of 2)

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 sense 3

Examples of respondent in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun These metrics are evaluated based on questions such as whether a respondent is able to access food, or has skipped meals, or ever went hungry. — Emily Barone, Time, "Americans Faced Less Financial Hardship in 2020 Than Before the Pandemic—But That May Not Last," 19 Apr. 2021 In a survey of 1,001 mid-market U.S. executives that Forbes Insights conducted on behalf of Capital One in late 2020, nearly every respondent (93%) reported growth rates of less than 15%. — Forbes, "Mid-Market Executives Anticipate High Growth By 2022," 10 Mar. 2021 Each respondent was randomly assigned to see either an extra question about Mr. Biden endorsing the vaccine; an extra question about Mr. Trump doing so; or no extra question at all. — Kabir Khanna, Jennifer De Pinto, CBS News, "Polling analysis: Can vaccine hesitancy be reduced by a president's encouragement?," 25 Mar. 2021 The Selangor Islamic Religious Council, a respondent in the suit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. — Reuters, CNN, "Malaysian man wins landmark challenge against Muslim gay sex ban," 26 Feb. 2021 However, even under these ideal conditions, the likelihood that the average respondent in the study would choose to vaccinate is just 68%. — Matt Motta, The Conversation, "Americans have unrealistic expectations for a COVID-19 vaccine," 13 Jan. 2021 However, even under these ideal conditions, the likelihood that the average respondent in the study would choose to vaccinate is just 68 percent. — Popular Science, "What does it take to convince people to get vaccinated?," 20 Jan. 2021 Consider this survey respondent, a pregnant 36-year old doctoral candidate in New York who rejected the idea of deciding whether to have a family based on the global political failure to curtail emissions. — Michael J. Coren, Quartz, "Are millennials really giving up on children over climate change?," 3 Dec. 2020 The average respondent who employed one or more of these strategies, or similar ones, saved a cool $407.48 every year by doing so – and seven percent even reported saving over $1,001. — People Staff, PEOPLE.com, "Americans Who Shop Holiday Sales Save Over $400 a Year on Average, According to Survey," 30 Nov. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective When a household agrees to participate, Nielsen has field representatives to contact would-be respondent homes. — Brad Adgate, Forbes, "As Their Ratings Drop TV Networks Fault Nielsen; Media Researchers Weigh In," 20 Apr. 2021 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

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.