respondverb [ I ]
uk/rɪˈspɒnd/us/rɪˈspɑːnd/B2 to say or do something as a reaction to something that has been said or done:
[ + speech ] To every question, he responded "I don't know."
I asked her what the time was, but she didn't respond.
He responded by marching off and slamming the door behind him.
How did she respond to the news?
[ + that ] When the tax office wrote to me demanding unpaid income tax, I responded that I had been working abroad since 1998.
The police respond to emergencies (= arrive and are ready to deal with emergencies) in just a few minutes.
respond to sth
If diseases or patients respond to treatment, the treatment begins to cure them:
It remains to be seen whether the cancer will respond to treatment.
For patients who do not respond to drug treatment, surgery is a possible option.
More examples
- This disease doesn't generally respond to treatment.
- Terry was, as usual, slow to respond.
- She responded to his remarks with feigned amusement.
- The president responded angrily to the charge that she had lost touch with her country's people.
- She said how much she appreciated the overwhelming generosity of the public in responding to the appeal.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Answering & responding
- acknowledgment
- and the same to you with (brass) knobs on idiom
- answer back
- back
- counter
- counterattack
- counterblast
- defensive
- fifth
- get
- get back to sb
- give
- I take/plead the Fifth (Amendment) idiom
- rejoin
- rejoinder
- reply
- respondent
- response
- thank you
- unanswered
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Reacting and responding
Recovering from illness