Meaning & use
responsive
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Quick to react to what people need, ask or feel in a helpful or positive way.
Grammar: Often followed by to: responsive to feedback.
Patterns
- responsive to something
- responsive to someone
The company is responsive to customer complaints.
A responsive teacher notices when students are lost.
The mayor was not responsive to residents' concerns.
adjectivecomparable
Reacting quickly and accurately to a signal, touch or input.
Grammar: Describes equipment or body parts: a responsive touchscreen.
Patterns
- responsive to something
The brakes on this bike are very responsive.
The patient was responsive to light and sound.
A responsive engine makes driving easier.
adjectivebefore a nouncomputingtechnical
In web design, describing a page whose layout changes automatically to fit the size of the screen.
Grammar: Often used with design or website: responsive design.
Patterns
- responsive design
- a responsive layout
We rebuilt the site with a responsive layout.
Responsive design lets one page work on phones and desktops.
The menu is responsive, so it collapses on small screens.
Word forms
| comparative | more responsive |
|---|---|
| superlative | most responsive |
Common combinations
- highly responsive
- The support team is highly responsive.
- responsive to feedback
- The designers were responsive to feedback.
- responsive design
- Responsive design is now standard for new websites.
- responsive government
- Voters want a more responsive government.
- fully responsive
- The page is fully responsive on tablets.
Synonyms and how they differ
- receptive
- Receptive means open to ideas and willing to listen, while responsive means actually reacting.
- reactive
- Reactive can sound negative, suggesting only waiting to react, whereas responsive is usually praise.
- attentive
- Attentive emphasizes careful noticing of needs, while responsive emphasizes the quick answer.
- sensitive
- Sensitive suggests easily affected by something, which may be a weakness, unlike the mostly positive responsive.
Opposites
Word family
- respond verb
- to answer or react
- response noun
- an answer or reaction
- responsiveness noun
- the quality of reacting quickly and well
- unresponsive adjective
- not reacting
- responsively adverb
- in a reacting, helpful way
Commonly confused: responsive or responsible?
responsive vs responsible
Responsible means having a duty or being to blame, whereas responsive means reacting quickly to something.
Practice
The customer service team has been very ______ to our questions, always replying within an hour.
Choose one answer.
Responsive to means reacting quickly and helpfully. Responsible is a close-looking confusable but means being in charge or to blame.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “responsive”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.