resolve

English

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

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).
   • 1599, [William Shakespeare], The Cronicle History of Henry the Fift,  (First Quarto), London: Thomas Creede, for Tho 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     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.

   • 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools‎, volume 2, Dublin: Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, 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.

   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     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 M for H 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, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A 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.
   • 2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist:

     The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.

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: 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. (mathematics, archaic, transitive) To solve (an equation, etc.).

Derived terms

• resolvable
• resolver
• time-resolved

Translations

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “resolve”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Noun

resolve (countable and uncountable, plural resolves)

1. (uncountable) 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:

     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:

     Alan Pardew's current squad has been put together with a relatively low budget but the resolve and unity within the team is priceless.

   • 2018, Jhariah Clare (lyrics and music), “Sunsets (Resilience)”, in The Great Tale of How I Ruined it All:

     I wish for unending resolve, to always get up when I fall.

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

• fortitude, inner strength, resoluteness, sticktoitiveness, tenacity

Translations

See also

• set of one's jaw

Etymology 2

Verb

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

1. Alternative spelling of re-solve

Anagrams

• reloves

Italian

Verb

resolve

1. third-person singular present indicative of resolvere

Anagrams

• solvere, svelerò, svolere, velsero

Latin

Verb

resolve

1. second-person singular present active imperative of resolvō

Middle English

Verb

resolve

1. Alternative form of resolven

Portuguese

Verb

resolve

1. inflection of resolver:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative