respondent

noun

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

The 10-year count hasn’t asked all respondents such a question since 1950, though smaller one-year surveys include it. ... — Janet Adamy, WSJ, "Commerce Secretary Ross Denies ‘Nefarious Purpose’ in Crafting 2020 Census," 14 Mar. 2019 The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points. — Juana Summers, The Seattle Times, "AP-NORC Poll: Most Americans see a sharply divided nation," 25 Oct. 2018 The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points. — Frank Miles, Fox News, "'Abolish ICE' sees little support among Democrats despite left-wing push, poll finds," 27 Aug. 2018 The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. — Washington Post, "AP-NORC Poll: Americans say no to presidential self-pardons," 22 June 2018 The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. — The Christian Science Monitor, "Poll: Most Americans approve of Trump's handling of North Korea," 21 June 2018 So far this year, about 12 percent of all respondents fall into that surly segment. — NBC News, "'Throw the bums out' coalition changes shape in 2018," 17 June 2018 Sending astronauts to Mars (18 percent), and the Moon (13 percent), lagged far behind as top priorities for respondents. — Eric Berger, Ars Technica, "NASA’s priorities appear to be out of whack with what the public wants," 6 June 2018 Nearly half of all respondents to a survey for the Law Society said the profession required an unacceptable work-life balance to progress to senior ranks. — New York Times, "The Gender Pay Gap: Trying to Narrow It," 13 May 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

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.