resolve

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: résolvé, résolve, resolvé, and resolvê

English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English resolven, from Old French resolver, a learned borrowing of Latin resolvō (“loosen, thaw, melt, resolve”), equivalent to re- +‎ solve.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ɹɪˈzɒlv/, /ɹiːˈzɒlv/
  • Rhymes: -ɒlv
  • (US) IPA(key): /ɹɪˈzɑlv/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)

Verb[edit]

resolve (third-person singular simple present resolves, present participle resolving, simple past and past participle resolved)

  1. (transitive) To find a solution to (a problem).
  2. (transitive) To reduce to simple or intelligible notions; to make clear or certain; to unravel; to explain.
    to resolve a riddle
  3. (intransitive) To make a firm decision to do something.
    I resolve to finish this work before I go home.
    • 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools‎[1], volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, OCLC 519072825, page 202:
      At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them […]
  4. (transitive) To determine or decide in purpose; to make ready in mind; to fix; to settle.
    He was resolved by an unexpected event.
  5. To come to an agreement or make peace; patch up relationship, settle differences, bury the hatchet.
    After two weeks of bickering, they finally resolved their differences.
  6. (transitive, intransitive, reflexive) To break down into constituent parts; to decompose; to disintegrate; to return to a simpler constitution or a primeval state.
  7. To cause to perceive or understand; to acquaint; to inform; to convince; to assure; to make certain.
  8. (music) To cause a chord to go from dissonance to consonance.
  9. (optics) To render visible or distinguishable the parts of something.
  10. (computing) To find the IP address of a hostname, or the entity referred to by a symbol in source code; to look up.
  11. (rare, transitive) To melt; to dissolve; to liquefy or soften (a solid).
  12. (rare, intransitive, reflexive) To melt; to dissolve; to become liquid.
    • 1730, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments
      When the blood stagnates in any part, it first coagulates, then resolves, and turns alkaline.
  13. (obsolete, transitive) To liquefy (a gas or vapour).
  14. (medicine, dated) To disperse or scatter; to discuss, as an inflammation or a tumour.
  15. (obsolete) To relax; to lay at ease.
    • 1641, Ben Jonson, Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter
      resolve himself into all sports and looseness again
  16. (chemistry) To separate racemic compounds into their enantiomers.
  17. (mathematics, archaic, transitive) To solve (an equation, etc.).
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
References[edit]

Noun[edit]

resolve (countable and uncountable, plural resolves)

  1. Determination; will power.
    • 2019 May 12, Alex McLevy, “Westeros faces a disastrous final battle on the penultimate Game of Thrones (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎[2]:
      Stripped of all bravado, Cersei breaks, and shows the very scared, vulnerable woman who has kept her emotions at bay. “I don’t want to die,” she whimpers, “Not like this.” It’s all the more moving for coming from a character who built her identity on steely resolve and contempt for such hoary conceits as fear.
    It took all my resolve to go through with the surgery.
    • 2011 October 1, Saj Chowdhury, “Wolverhampton 1 - 2 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport‎[3]:
      Alan Pardew's current squad has been put together with a relatively low budget but the resolve and unity within the team is priceless.
  2. A determination to do something; a fixed decision.
    • 1995, William Arctander O'Brien, Novalis, Signs of Revolution (page 56)
      His resolve to die is weakening as he grows accustomed to Sophie's absence, and all his attempts to master irresolution only augment it.
  3. (countable) An act of resolving something; resolution.
    • 2008, Matt Lombard, SolidWorks 2007 Bible (page 956)
      Some operations require data that, in turn, requires that lightweight components be resolved. In these cases, this option determines whether the user is prompted to approve the resolve or whether components are just resolved automatically.
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Verb[edit]

resolve (third-person singular simple present resolves, present participle resolving, simple past and past participle resolved)

  1. Alternative spelling of re-solve

Anagrams[edit]

Italian[edit]

Verb[edit]

resolve

  1. third-person singular present indicative of resolvere

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Verb[edit]

resolve

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of resolvō

Portuguese[edit]

Verb[edit]

resolve

  1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of resolver
  2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of resolver
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