unresponsive

adjective

un·​re·​spon·​sive ˌən-ri-ˈspän(t)-siv 

: not responsive

The patient was unresponsive.

an infection unresponsive to antibiotics

an unresponsive bureaucracy

Although they are able to locate their own food at two weeks of age, fledgling robins will still piteously beg handouts from their increasingly unresponsive father.

—Millard H. Sharp

unresponsively adverb

staring unresponsively

unresponsiveness noun

Examples of unresponsive in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

She was found unresponsive at an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina. — Bonny Chu , Tracy Wright , Christina Dugan Ramirez, FOXNews.com, 28 Oct. 2026

In audio from the 911 call placed after Robins got there, the caller says there's an unresponsive baby. — Christine Sloan, CBS News, 27 Oct. 2026

Pablo Gutierrez-Gallegos was then found unresponsive on the pavement as officers walked toward a restaurant. — Latoya Gayle, PEOPLE, 27 Oct. 2026

Anna Yagi, 39, was found unresponsive in her hotel room and pronounced dead at the scene on the morning of October 3, Okinawa police previously told CNN, adding the cause of death was suffocation. — Yumi Asada, CNN Money, 26 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1768, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for unresponsive

• nonresponsive
• responsive

Medical Definition

unresponsive

adjective

un·​re·​spon·​sive ˌən-ri-ˈspän(t)-siv 

: not responsive (as to a stimulus or treatment)

an unresponsive ulcer

unresponsiveness noun