What does unresponsive mean?
Unresponsive means failing to respond or showing no reaction to a person, action, request, or stimulus. In everyday use, it may describe a person who does not answer, a device that does not react, or an organization that ignores a concern. The word often suggests a complete or persistent absence of response, although the degree can vary: someone may be briefly unresponsive, or an issue may remain unresponsive to repeated attempts at a solution. In medical settings, “unresponsive” is an important descriptive term for someone who cannot be awakened or does not react normally to external stimuli. Figurative uses, such as describing a government as unresponsive, suggest that people or institutions are neglecting requests and failing to act. The adjective is especially useful because it identifies not merely passivity or difficulty, but the striking absence of an expected reply, reaction, or response.
adjectiveFailing to respond or showing no reaction to speech, action, a request, or an external stimulus. The word can describe people, devices, organizations, or conditions in which a response is absent.
- Not responding to speech, touch, a request, or another external stimulus.
- Showing no reaction or effective response to treatment, pressure, influence, or an appeal.
"After several minutes of tapping the screen and speaking loudly, the device remained completely unresponsive."
"The patient was unconscious and unresponsive to pain."
"Residents complained that the local council had been unresponsive to their requests for assistance."
One word can describe a machine that ignores commands, a patient who cannot respond, and a community that feels ignored: in each case, the missing answer becomes the story.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does unresponsive come from?
Unresponsive was formed in English by adding the productive prefix un- to responsive, a word based on the Latin respondere, meaning “to answer” or “reply.” The same Latin root appears in respond, response, correspond, and responsible, although these words developed distinct meanings over time. The formation of unresponsive followed the established English pattern of creating negative adjectives with un-, as in unhelpful and unthinkable.
Related word forms
How unresponsive is actually used
The adjective is used in formal, clinical, technical, and political contexts as well as in everyday speech. In medicine, unresponsive commonly means that a person cannot be awakened or does not react to stimuli; the context determines whether the condition is temporary, serious, or used figuratively.