Respondent – in the legal practice this noun has got application in the Civil Court Trials, where usually refers to the figure of the party that “responds to” a claim filed in court against them by a plaintiff. The more common term is “defendant”. The word is also used to refer to the party who wins at the first court level but who must then respond to an appeal launched by the party that lost the case at the first court level (upon appeal, this latter person is called the appelant). In the Criminal Law the respondent is the suspect or the prisoner.