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responsive

adjective

Simple meaning

Automatically resizing and repositioning elements to fit the available space.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

rihspahnsiv

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ɹɪsˈpɑnsɪv

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Able to receive and respond to external stimuli.

  2. Answering, replying or responding

  3. graphical user interface

    Automatically resizing and repositioning elements to fit the available space.

  4. Susceptible to the feelings of others.

  5. Containing or using responses; alternating

  6. Using antiphons; antiphonal.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Able to receive and respond to external stimuli.

Used this way, responsive is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use responsive

  • “Children are often the quickest and most responsive members of the audience.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

less responsiveresponsive chordhighly responsiveculturally responsiveresponsive elementresponsive pleadingresponsive politicsresponsive government

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • responsibleadjectiveDerived adjective

    Worthy of or requiring responsibility or trust.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: able to receive and respond to external stimuli

Antonyms

Sense: able to receive and respond to external stimuli

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.