unresponsively

Word family

• unresponsive
  adjectiveB2
• unresponsiveness
  nounC1
• responsive
  adjectiveB1
• respond
  verbA2
• response
  nounA2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Unresponsive is the broadest of these four words: it simply means giving no reaction, whether emotional, verbal, or physical. Indifferent adds a layer of conscious disregard — an indifferent person knows about the situation but does not care enough to respond. Passive emphasises accepting what happens without pushing back, which is not quite the same as a total lack of reaction; a passive audience might still laugh quietly. Apathetic carries emotional numbness or lack of enthusiasm, focusing on the absence of feeling rather than the absence of verbal or physical response. Unreactive is largely scientific, describing a substance or organism that does not respond to a stimulus, and is rarely used for people's social behaviour. In everyday use, unresponsive is the safest choice for describing a person, an organisation, or a device that simply does not answer or react.

Common collocations

Etymology

Formed in English by adding the prefix un- (meaning 'not') to responsive, which itself comes from the Latin respondere, meaning 'to answer' or 'to reply'. The suffix -ly turns the adjective unresponsive into the adverb unresponsively.