1
- a defendant in a lawsuit, especially one in an appeal or divorce case（尤指上诉案或离婚案的）被告。
2
- a person who replies to something, especially one supplying information for a survey or questionnaire or responding to an advertisement（社会调查）应答者; （问卷调查）答卷人; （广告）应答者, 应征者。
attrib.
1
- in the position of defendant in a lawsuit处于被告地位的：
the respondent defendant.
答辩被告。
2
- replying to something, especially a survey or questionnaire（尤指对民意调查、问卷调查等）作回答的, 应答的：
the respondent firms in the survey.
社会调查中作回答的公司。
3
- Psychology involving or denoting a response, especially a conditioned reflex, to a specific stimulus【心理】（尤指对特定刺激的条件反射）有反应的, 反射的。
词源
early 16th cent. (in sense 2 of the noun)： from Latin respondent- 'answering, offering in return', from the verb respondere （see RESPOND）.