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to correspond

to correspond

18 3.7
Write letters or messages to someone regularly over time
  • verb
  • /ˌkɔːrəˈspɑːnd/
translation icon : corresponderse (con)
  • I often correspond with my old friends through letters and postcards.
  • corresponded with authors

Many other travellers sought Heinrich Keepert's advice and corresponded with him and sent him reports.

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Examples

  • Mrs. Weston has promised to correspond.

  • So, Professor Hicks and I, we've corresponded for many years, but we've never actually met.

  • And the King has promised to correspond with me regularly over the matter.

  • If circumstances permit, I hope we can correspond.

  • But I thought she wanted to correspond with you on intellectual subjects.

  • So we were first corresponding via e-mail and I was exploring the potential for maybe doing something in person.

  • For years, some members of the family had corresponded by letter with the family that still remained there.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Profile matching provided a personal element by allowing students to correspond with an individual rather than with an institution.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Young people can be encouraged to correspond with youths in other countries.

    Academic text (1990)
  • For years Louise has corresponded with her mother at this very hotel.

Synonyms

to contact
vsto correspond
2.5

To communicate with someone by phone or writing

is narrower centring on repeated message exchange rather than a single reach out
to write
vsto correspond
926 1.0

Send a letter or message to someone

is an ongoing exchange of messages over time rather than one message
to communicate
vsto correspond
773 2.3

Share information, ideas, or feelings with someone

is more specific to repeated message exchange rather than general information sharing
to keep in touch
vsto correspond
75 2.1

Continue to talk or write to someone after you move away

is about regular written message exchange rather than only staying connected after separation
to intercommunicate
vsto correspond
6.5

To share thoughts, feelings, or information with each other

is focused on regular message exchange rather than any mutual idea sharing

Antonyms

1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

119 3.9

Ignore something or someone on purpose

How Formal

to correspond
18 3.7
to write
926 1.0
to text
  • Texting
296 2.6

Surface Forms

correspond infinitive
corresponded past participle
corresponding present participle
corresponds third person singular

Morphology

correspond = respond (semi-transparent) = cor + respond

The structure cor- + respond is clear, but the specific convention 'to write to someone regularly' (exchange letters) is a conventionalized usage that is not fully deducible from the base elements by all learners.

Etymology

Correspond comes from the parts cor- 'together' and respondere 'to answer', the same root as respond. That's why to correspond with someone is to 'answer' each other by writing letters or messages over time.