unresponsive

/ənrɪˈspɑnsɪv/

/ənreˈspɒnsɪv/

Other forms: unresponsively

If someone can't or won't respond, we call them unresponsive. Depending on the context, a person's unresponsiveness can be just a bummer or a life-threatening condition.

Take this word piece by piece. Un- means "not," as usual. A response is a reaction to something. And -ive is a suffix that means "state of being." Taken together, these parts add up to "the state of being not responsive." When your boyfriend just sits and stares rather than talking about what's bothering him, he's being unresponsive. Medically speaking, when a person is called unresponsive, it means they're at least unconscious, and possibly dead or dying.

Definitions of unresponsive

1. adjective

   not responding to some influence or stimulus
   synonyms:

   refractory

   temporarily unresponsive or not fully responsive to nervous or sexual stimuli

   insensitive

   not responsive to physical stimuli

   insensitive

   deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive

   antonyms:

   responsive

   readily reacting or replying to people or events or stimuli; showing emotion

   answering, respondent

   replying

   sensitive

   responsive to physical stimuli

   sensitive

   being susceptible to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of others
2. adjective

   not susceptible to suggestion or influence
   synonyms:

   insusceptible, unsusceptible

   not susceptible to
3. adjective

   aloof or indifferent
   synonyms:

   cool

   psychologically cool and unenthusiastic; unfriendly or unresponsive or showing dislike