to reply or answer in words: to respond briefly to a question.
to make a return by some action as if in answer: to respond generously to a charity drive.
to react favorably.
Physiology. to exhibit some action or effect as if in answer; react: Nerves respond to a stimulus.
to correspond (usually followed by to).
Bridge. to make a response.
verb (used with object)
to say in answer; reply.
noun
Architecture. a half pier, pilaster, or the like projecting from a wall as a support for a lintel or an arch, the other side of which is supported on a free-standing pier or column.
Ecclesiastical.
a short anthem chanted at intervals during the reading of a lection.
responsory.
response.
Origin of respond
1350–1400; (noun) Middle English: responsory <Old French, derivative of respondre to respond <Latin respondēre to promise in return, reply, answer, equivalent to re-re- + spondēre to pledge, promise (see sponsor); (v.) <Latin respondēre
return, acknowledge, come back, counter, react, behave, answer, reply, rejoin, reciprocate, retort, come in, feedback, answer back, feel for, get back to, get in touch, talk back