respondent

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin respondēns (“defendant; a student who defends a thesis”),^[2] a noun use of respondēns (“answering”), the present participle of respondeō (“to answer, respond; to promise in return”).^[2][3][4][5] The Latin verb is formed from re- (“back”) and spondeō (“to pledge”),^[3] the source of sponsor.^[3] The OED dates the medieval Latin noun to 1013 for a defendant and to about 1425 for a student defending a thesis,^[2] and compares Middle French respondant (“person who replies”), now répondant.^[2][4] The adjective, recorded from 1533, comes directly from the classical Latin participle.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who answers, especially one who defends a thesis against opponents in a disputation: 1528, in Tyndale's Obedience of Christen Man.^[2][6] Etymonline dates the noun to the 1520s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The academic sense came first: Johnson (1755) still defined a respondent as one whose part in a set disputation is to refute objections.^[7][2] In law the word was used from 1561 for a defendant,^[2] and Johnson's first sense was an answerer in a suit, illustrated from Ayliffe's Parergon.^[7] It now applies especially to the party against whom an appeal or a petition, above all for divorce, is brought,^[2][8] hence co-respondent.^[2] The sense of someone who answers a survey or questionnaire arose in the United States, from 1889.^[2] Rarer uses were a person answerable for another (1672) and a rhyming word (1804).^[2] In 1937 B. F. Skinner took it into psychology for a response to a specific stimulus, as opposed to an operant.^[2][6] The adjective at first meant corresponding (1533–1726), then answering (1658); since 1726 it has also meant responsive or, in law, being the defendant.^[2]

Timeline

• 1528 – noun, a person who answers, especially one who defends a thesis.^[2][6]
• 1533 – adjective, corresponding (obsolete by 1726).^[2][6]
• 1561 – in law, a defendant.^[2]
• 1658 – adjective, answering, making a reply.^[2]
• 1726 – adjective, responsive; in law, being the defendant.^[2]
• 1888 – in mathematics, each of the values in a table that result from applying a function to a series of arguments.^[2]
• 1889 – originally in the United States, a person who answers a survey or questionnaire.^[2]
• 1937 – in psychology, a response to a specific stimulus, and the adjective in respondent conditioning.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who answers a survey, questionnaire or poll: Most respondents favoured the later start.^[2][3]
2. (law) The party against whom a petition, especially for divorce, or an appeal is brought.^[8][2]
3. (law, US) The party who won in the lower court, as opposed to the appellant.^[6]
4. A person who defends a thesis in an academic disputation.^[2][6][7]
5. (psychology) A response, such as a conditioned reflex, called out by a specific stimulus.^[2][6]

Adjective

1. Making a response; answering or responsive.^[2][6][8]
2. (law) Being the defendant.^[2][6]
3. (psychology) Of behaviour, called out by a specific stimulus, as in respondent conditioning.^[2][6]
4. (obsolete, 1533–1726) Corresponding.^[2][6]

Word family

• respondence
• corespondent

Related words

• respond
• response
• correspondent
• sponsor

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins