responder

From respond + -er.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈspɒndə/, /ɹəˈspɒndə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈspɑndɚ/, /ɹəˈspɑndɚ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈspɔndə/
• Hyphenation: re‧spond‧er

responder (plural responders)

1. One who responds.
   • 2014, Geoffrey N. Leech, The Pragmatics of Politeness, page 31:

     As Levinson (1983: 334) points out, signs of dispreference in turn taking include: (a) Delays: notably a pause, or a time gap, before the responder replies to the preceding turn […]

2. A person who responds to an emergency situation or other summons.

   911 responders arrived at the scene within five minutes after the call.

• ponderers, reponders

Inherited from Latin respondēre.

responder

1. (transitive) to respond

• Bal Palazios, Santiago (2002), “responder”, in Dizionario breu de a luenga aragonesa, Zaragoza, →ISBN

Inherited from Latin respondēre, likely via Late Latin respondere.^[1]

responder

1. respond

• respuesta

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese responder, from Latin respondēre (likely via Late Latin respondere).^[1]

responder (first-person singular present respondo, first-person singular preterite respondín, past participle respondido)
responder (first-person singular present respondo, first-person singular preterite respondim or respondi, past participle respondido, reintegrationist norm)

1. to answer; to reply

• resposta

responder

1. to answer

Inherited from Old Spanish responder, inherited from Latin respondēre (likely via Late Latin respondĕre).^[1]

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

responder (Hebrew spelling ריספונדיר)^[2]

1. (ambitransitive) to answer; to reply (to give a written or spoken response)
   • 1997, Aki Yerushalayim, volumes 18–19, page 61:

     A lo kualo la tia Dudu respondia Barminam!

     To which aunt Dudu replied L-rd have mercy!

   • 2006, Matilda Koén-Sarano, Por el plazer de kontar‎^[2], page 193:

     Le respondió la mama: "Diez dedos ay en las manos. Kada uno duele en la mizma manera? No! El diamante es para el diamante!"

     The mum replied, ‘There are ten fingers on the hands. Each one hurts the same way? No! The diamond is for the diamond!’

Inherited from Latin respondēre (likely via Late Latin respondĕre).^[1]

responder

1. (ambitransitive) to answer; to reply (to give a written or spoken response) ^[2]
   • a. 1284, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, cantiga 335 (facsimile):

     ⁊ eles lle reſponderon / atal allur a catade.

     And they answered him: / go seek her elsewhere.

• Galician: responder
• Portuguese: responder

Inherited from Latin respondēre (likely via Late Latin respondĕre).^[1]

responder (first-person singular present respondo, first-person singular preterite respuse, past participle respuso)

1. (ambitransitive) to answer; to reply (to give a written or spoken response) ^[2]
   • c. 1275, Alfonso X, General Estoria, primera parte, (published by Pedro Sánchez Prieto-Borja, 2002, Alcalá de Henares: Universidad de Alcalá de Henares):

     E respusol ella: - Beve, mio señor, cuanto quisieres.

     And she replied to him, ‘Drink, milord, as much as you want.’

   • c. 1280, Alfonso X, General Estoria, tercera parte, (published by Pedro Sánchez-Prieto Borja and Bautista Horcajada Diezma, 1994, Madrid: Gredos, page 344):

     […] e si respuende que non quier con el morar & que quiere maldizer el nonbre de Jhesu Cristo e lo quiere traer a la su carrera mala e a otro pecado mortal, dara la Iglesia a este otro licençia que case.

     [in the context of a man converted from Judaism to Christianity, regarding his Jewish wife] […] and if she replies that she wills not to live with him anymore, and that she is willing to curse the name of Jesus Christ and take him [back] to her bad ways or some other mortal sin, the Church shall give him a licence to [re]marry.

In stem-stressed forms, the present is attested with diphthongization, respuendo, but is very rare. Same is true of the past participle repuso.

• Ladino: responder, ריספונדיר
• Spanish: responder

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese responder, from Latin respondēre (“answer”) (likely via Late Latin respondere),^[1] from re- & spondeō (“promise”).

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: res‧pon‧der

responder (first-person singular present respondo, first-person singular preterite respondi, past participle respondido)

1. to answer; to reply (to give a written or spoken response)

   Synonyms: replicar, retorquir, retrucar

   Antonym: calar

2. (intransitive) to retort frequently

   Synonym: retrucar

3. to correspond to (to be equivalent to)

   Synonyms: corresponder, equivaler

4. to counterattack

   Synonyms: contratacar, reagir, revidar

5. (intransitive) to be responsible (for something)
6. (law, intransitive) to be a defendant

• “responder”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “responder”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Inherited from Old Spanish responder, inherited from Latin respondēre (likely via Late Latin respondĕre).^[1] The original past participle was respuso or repuso in Old Spanish.^[2] The expected diphthongization of stressed Latin /ŏ/ is found in Asturian responder (that is, respuendo) and sporadically in Old Spanish as well.

• IPA^(key): /responˈdeɾ/ [res.põn̪ˈd̪eɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: res‧pon‧der

responder (first-person singular present respondo, first-person singular preterite respondí, past participle respondido)

1. (ambitransitive) to answer, to reply

   Synonym: contestar

   responde al nombre de ― his/her name is

   Respondí rápido tus preguntas. ― I answered your questions fast.

   Me gusta que respondas así. ― I like that you give answers like that.

   Lo siento, no te pude responder la llamada. ― Sorry, I couldn't answer your (phone) call.

   Respóndele a tu madre, no te quedes callada. ― Reply to your mother, don't stay silent.

   • 2020 July 9, Carlos E. Cué, Miguel González, “Sánchez plantea revisar la inviolabilidad del Rey en la Constitución”, in El País‎^[3], archived from the original on 10 July 2020:

     Cuando se le preguntó si se está buscando “alguna salida” para el rey emérito, Calvo respondió que el futuro de Juan Carlos I “compete fundamentalmente a la decisión que tome el jefe de la Casa Real, que es el actual rey Felipe VI”.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (ambitransitive) to talk back, to answer back (to respond defiantly and inappropriately)

   Synonyms: argumentar, rebatir, replicar

   Mira cómo responde la niña de malcriada. ― Notice how the girl talks back, she's so spoiled.

3. (intransitive) to respond, to react (to someone else's actions)

   La audiencia respondía bien a sus chistes. ― The audience was responding well to his jokes.

   Los revolucionarios respondimos con más violencia ante su represión. ― We the revolutionaries, facing their repression, responded with more violence.

4. (intransitive) to answer for, to be responsible for, vouch for (with por)

   Synonym: responsabilizarse por

   Necesito un fiador que responda por mí. ― I need a guarantor to vouch for me.

5. (intransitive, medicine) to react, to respond (to a treatment, with a)

   El paciente no respondió bien al tratamiento. ― The patient didn't respond well to the treatment.

• “responder”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025