Why does the /locate command in minecraft not work?

Sometimes /locate can take a while to return a result, especially if your structure is a while away. Be patient, and if it doesn't return anything after about a minute or so, there may be a different problem.

The longest it took for me to get a result is about 10 seconds.

If a structure is not found, it should return red text, Could not find that structure nearby. If you are not getting any output, it could be a different problem.

As of today, the current Minecraft version is 1.16-pre2. Consider updating, and this bug may have been fixedl

I had turned off the "Send command Feedback" gamerule, causing the /locate command to not send the feedback to chat.