resolve - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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.

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).
    Synonyms: decipher, upsolve, work out; see also Thesaurus:solve
  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. 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[1], 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.
  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.
    The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill.
  7. To cause to perceive or understand; to acquaint; to inform; to convince; to assure; to make certain.
    • 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.
    • 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).
  1. (rare, intransitive, reflexive) To melt; to dissolve; to become liquid.
  1. (obsolete, transitive) To liquefy (a gas or vapour).
  2. (medicine, dated) To disperse or scatter; to discuss, as an inflammation or a tumour.
  3. (obsolete) To relax; to lie at ease.
  1. (chemistry) To separate racemic compounds into their enantiomers.
  2. (mathematics, archaic, transitive) To solve (an equation, etc.).

to find a solution to

to reduce to simple or intelligible notions; to make clear or certain

to make a firm decision

to determine or decide in purpose; to make ready in mind

to break down into constituent parts

to cause to perceive or understand, to convince; to assure; to make certain

to cause a chord to go from dissonance to consonance

to find IP address or entity

to melt; to dissolve; to liquefy or soften

medicine: to disperse or scatter

to separate racemic compounds into their enantiomers

resolve (countable and uncountable, plural resolves)

  1. (uncountable) Determination; will power.
    It took all my resolve to go through with the surgery.
    • 2019 May 12, Alex McLevy, “Westeros faces a disastrous final battle on the penultimate Game of Thrones (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎[3], archived from the original on 15 May 2019:
      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.
    • 2011 October 1, Saj Chowdhury, “Wolverhampton 1 - 2 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport‎[4]:
      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, “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.
    • 1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities:
      And the having individually entertained four such resolves, without perceiving that once brought together, they all mutually expire; this, this ineffable folly, Pierre, brands thee in the forehead for an unaccountable infatuate!
    • 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.
    • 1986, Daniel Garrett, “Creating Ourselves: An Open Letter”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 94:
      Still, my mother said she loved me and the conversation soon ended, without resolve; possibly, this is also a dialog which is only beginning, or rather continuing.
    • 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.

will power

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

  1. Alternative spelling of re-solve.

resolve

  1. third-person singular present indicative of resolvere

resolve

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of resolvō

resolve

  1. alternative form of resolven

resolve

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