respond to a crisis

/rɪˈspɒnd tə ə ˈkraɪsɪs/

verb phrase

  1. to take action in order to deal with a sudden, serious and dangerous situation

    B2

    intransitive; respond to + noun (no object directly after 'respond')

    • "The team responded to the crisis quickly."A2
    • "The school responded to the crisis by closing for two days."B1
    • "The government was criticized for responding to the crisis too slowly."B2
    • "Firms that respond to a crisis quickly usually recover their customers' trust."C1

  2. to react to a crisis, especially in an emotional or public way

    C1

    intransitive; often followed by 'with' + nounformal

    • "Many people responded to the crisis with fear and anger."B2
    • "The public responded to the crisis with remarkable calm."C1

Common mistakes

  • The company responded the crisis immediately.→The company responded to the crisis immediately.

    Use 'to' before the situation you are responding to; 'respond' cannot take a direct object.

  • They responded to crisis by cutting jobs.→They responded to the crisis by cutting jobs.

    Use 'the' before a specific crisis that both speaker and listener know about.

Collocations

respond to an emergencycrisis managementdeal with a crisishandle a crisisa rapid responserespond quickly to a crisisrespond effectively to a crisis

Word family

respondresponseresponsivecrisis