# respond

Pronunciation: say "ri-SPOND" US /ɹɪˈspɑnd/, UK /ɹɪˈspɒnd/

## Verb

1. To say something in return; to answer or reply to a person, question, or message.
   - Simple: To say something back when someone speaks to you or asks you a question.
   - _Reporters shouted questions, but the senator did not respond._
   - _Asked whether the deal was final, she responded that negotiations were still open._
2. To act in reaction to an event, force, or stimulus; to do something in response.
   - Simple: To do something because of what happens to you or around you.
   - _Emergency crews responded within minutes of the first call._
   - _Plants respond to sunlight by turning their leaves toward it._
3. To correspond with something; to suit it or be in keeping with it.
   - Simple: To match something else or to go well with it.
   - _The smaller arches respond to the great central arch above the entrance._
   - _The garden's formal layout responded to the symmetry of the house itself._
4. To be legally liable for a payment; to be answerable for money owed.
   - Simple: To have to pay money, for example when a court says so.
   - _Under the agreement, the guarantor must respond for any unpaid balance._
   - _The shipping firm responded in damages for the cargo lost at sea._

## Noun

5. A versicle or short anthem chanted at intervals while a lection is read during a church service.
   - Simple: A short piece sung or spoken between the parts of a church reading.
   - _The cantor intoned the respond, and the congregation took up the refrain._
   - _Medieval manuscripts preserve dozens of responds composed for the night office._
6. A pilaster, half-pillar, or similar element set into a wall to carry the impost of an arch.
   - Simple: A half-pillar built into a wall to hold up one end of an arch.
   - _At the end of the arcade, the final arch springs from a respond rather than a freestanding column._
   - _The masons carved the responds to match the piers of the nave._

## Verb

7. To satisfy or answer a demand or obligation, such as a judgment a court has given. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To do what a demand or a court's decision asks for.

## Other meanings

- (noun) Something said or done in reply to something else.

## Origin

This word comes from Middle English respounden, from Old French respondre, from Late Latin respondō and Latin respondeō (compare Modern French répondre).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/respond (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).