nonresponse

noun

non·​re·​sponse ˌnän-ri-ˈspän(t)s 

plural nonresponses

1

: a refusal or failure to respond : lack of response

a nonresponse to a complaint

nonresponse to medical treatment

2

: an empty or unsatisfactory response

Questions to the staff brought a familiar nonresponse: Nobody could provide any information because of HIPAA.

—Paula Span

Examples of nonresponse in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The sample was selected by The New York Times in multiple steps to account for differential telephone coverage, nonresponse and significant variation in the productivity of telephone numbers by state. —New York Times, 17 Aug. 2024

Still, polls have issues of their own, including sampling bias, leading questioning, and nonresponses that can also produce inaccuracies. —Sydney Lake, Fortune, 14 Oct. 2024

Some experts, like the Republican pollster Patrick Ruffini, warn that there are specific states where this nonresponse bias may have a bigger effect because of the nature of the electorate and the way data is captured there. —Christian Paz, Vox, 10 Sep. 2024

President Donald Trump’s nonresponse to the 2019 Iranian missile attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil refinery, for instance, which shut down nearly five percent of global oil production, shocked the region. —Marc Lynch, Foreign Affairs, 8 Dec. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1832, in the meaning defined at sense 1