unresponsive

adjective

un·​re·​spon·​sive ˌən-ri-ˈspän(t)-siv 

: not responsive

The patient was unresponsive.

an infection unresponsive to antibiotics

an unresponsive bureaucracy

Although they are able to locate their own food at two weeks of age, fledgling robins will still piteously beg handouts from their increasingly unresponsive father.

—Millard H. Sharp

unresponsively adverb

staring unresponsively

unresponsiveness noun

Examples of unresponsive in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Yasmin Vitalis, 25, was found unresponsive on a living room floor in Fuquay-Varina. —Ames Alexander, Charlotte Observer, 20 Mar. 2025

Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally accused Read of leaving O'Keefe to die outside the home of one of the officers — Brian Albert, then a Boston police sergeant. O’Keefe was found unresponsive outside Albert's suburban home on the morning of Jan. 22. —Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 19 Mar. 2025

Police say officers on the scene found an adult male with gunshot wounds who was unresponsive. —Michelle Deal-Zimmerman, Baltimore Sun, 17 Mar. 2025

Sheriff’s personnel found the inmate, described as a 25-year-old white man, unresponsive in a cell around 4:50 p.m., and administered lifesaving measures until medical staff stationed in the center arrived, according to details shared by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook. —Sierra Lopez, The Mercury News, 16 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1768, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for unresponsive

• nonresponsive
• responsive

Medical Definition

unresponsive

adjective

un·​re·​spon·​sive ˌən-ri-ˈspän(t)-siv 

: not responsive (as to a stimulus or treatment)

an unresponsive ulcer

unresponsiveness noun