English
resolve
Etymology 1

From Middle English resolven, from Old French resolver, a learned borrowing of Latin resolvō, equivalent to re- + solve.

Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ɹɪˈzɒlv/, /ɹiːˈzɒlv/
  • (America) IPA: /ɹɪˈzɑlv/
Verb

resolve (resolves, present participle resolving; simple past and past participle resolved)

  1. (transitive) To find a solution to (a problem).
    • 1599 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Cronicle History of Henry the Fift, […] (First Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Tho[mas] Millington, and Iohn Busby […], published 1600, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene i]:
      Exeter. Shall I call in Thambaſſadors my Liege? / King. Not yet my Couſin, til we be reſolude / Of ſome ſerious matters touching vs and France.
  2. (transitive) To reduce to simple or intelligible notions; to make clear or certain; to unravel; to explain.
    to resolve a riddle
    • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene i]:
      Resolve my doubt.
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC ↗, Canto XLIII, page 66 ↗:
      If such a dreamy touch should fall,
      ⁠O turn thee round, resolve the doubt,
      ⁠My guardian angel will speak out
      In that high place, and tell thee all.
  3. (intransitive) To make a firm decision to do something. To become determined to reach a certain goal or take a certain action.
    I resolve to finish this work before I go home.
  4. (transitive) To determine or decide in purpose; to make ready in mind; to fix; to settle.
    He was resolved by an unexpected event.
    • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene i], page 210 ↗, column 2, lines 50–51:
      Gentlemen, importune me no farther, / For hovv I firmly am reſolu'd you knovv: / That is, not to beſtovv my yongeſt daughter, / Before I haue a husband for the elder: […]
  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.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:
      O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
    • 1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman […], published 1667, →OCLC ↗, Act II, scene (please specify |scene=i or ii), page 15 ↗:
      And ye Immortal Souls, that once vvere Men, / And novv reſolv’d to Elements agen.
  7. To cause to perceive or understand; to acquaint; to inform; to convince; to assure; to make certain.
    • 1596, Walter Raleigh, The discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana, with a relation of the great and golden city of Manoa:
      In health, good air, pleasure, riches, I am resolved it cannot be equalled by any region.
    • 1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC ↗, book 9:
      We must be resolved how the law can be pure and perspicuous, and yet throw a polluted skirt over these Eleusinian mysteries.
    • 1733 (indicated as 1732), [Alexander] Pope, Of the Use of Riches, an Epistle to the Right Honourable Allen Lord Bathurst, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC ↗, page 16 ↗:
      Reſolve me Reaſon, vvhich of theſe is vvorſe, / VVant vvith a full, or vvith an empty purſe: […]
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC ↗:
      She was proceeding in this manner when the surgeon entered the room. The lieutenant immediately asked how his patient did. But he resolved him only by saying, "Better, I believe, than he would have been by this time, if I had not been called; and even as it is, perhaps it would have been lucky if I could have been called sooner."
  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).
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, (please specify the page):
      With milke-white Hartes vpon an Iuorie ſled, / Thou ſhalt be drawen amidſt the froſen Pooles, / And ſcale the yſie mountaines lofty tops: / Which with thy beautie will be soone reſolu’d.
  12. (rare, intransitive, reflexive) To melt; to dissolve; to become liquid.
    • 1731, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human Bodies. […], 1st Irish edition, Dublin: […] S. Powell, for George Risk, […], George Ewing, […], and William Smith, […], →OCLC ↗:
      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 lie 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. (math, archaic, transitive) To solve (an equation, etc.).
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

resolve

  1. (uncountable) Determination; will power.
    It took all my resolve to go through with the surgery.
  2. (countable) 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 Translations Verb

resolve (resolves, present participle resolving; simple past and past participle resolved)

  1. Alternative spelling of re-solve


This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
Offline English dictionary