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
Millard H. Sharp
unresponsively adverb
staring unresponsively
unresponsiveness noun
Examples of unresponsive in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Prince was found unresponsive the morning of April 21, 2016, and was pronounced dead by medical personnel shortly after. —Alex Gurley, PEOPLE, 21 Apr. 2026 Jaxon died April 9 after being found unresponsive five days earlier in the San Jose home of a cousin who had been caring for him as a foster parent for about six weeks. —Julia Prodis Sulek, Mercury News, 20 Apr. 2026 Around the same time, Pittsburgh Police were called to the city's Bedford Dwellings neighborhood for a ShotSpotter alert along Chauncey Drive, where officers found an unresponsive man in a courtyard. —Mike Darnay, CBS News, 20 Apr. 2026 There, officers found the unresponsive man and requested emergency medical services, who pronounced the victim dead at the scene, Becchina said. —Kansas City Star, 20 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for unresponsive
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Alex Gurley, PEOPLE, 21 Apr. 2026 Jaxon died April 9 after being found unresponsive five days earlier in the San Jose home of a cousin who had been caring for him as a foster parent for about six weeks. —Julia Prodis Sulek, Mercury News, 20 Apr. 2026 Around the same time, Pittsburgh Police were called to the city's Bedford Dwellings neighborhood for a ShotSpotter alert along Chauncey Drive, where officers found an unresponsive man in a courtyard. —Mike Darnay, CBS News, 20 Apr. 2026 There, officers found the unresponsive man and requested emergency medical services, who pronounced the victim dead at the scene, Becchina said. —Kansas City Star, 20 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for unresponsive
Cite this Entry
“Unresponsive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.grautoblog.com/dictionary/unresponsive. Accessed 27 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical 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
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