irresolute
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of irresolute
Explanation
Irresolute describes someone who feels stuck. A decision must be made, a plan acted on, but the irresolute person just doesn't know what to do. Resolute describes certainty. When someone is resolute, things get done: plans are made and carried out. But add the prefix ir to resolute and you get its opposite. An irresolute person isn't necessarily a slacker — he or she just doesn't know what to do. Maybe it's confusion. Maybe it's a matter of waiting for better information to come along. Either way, if someone is irresolute, you'll need to be patient — or willing to nudge him or her into action.
Vocabulary lists containing irresolute
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The Pearl
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But in hindsight some historians say the Shah was too weak, slow and irresolute in repression.
From Reuters ● Oct. 6, 2022
That phrase is a call back to the ancestors and an acknowledgment that you were not raised to be fearful and irresolute.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 18, 2021
People seeking a summer action thriller in The Green Knight will be puzzled and perhaps annoyed by this irresolute final shot.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2021
When Stephen McCauley’s debut, “The Object of My Affection,” begins, George, the resolutely irresolute narrator, is drifting.
From New York Times ● Apr. 10, 2018
In order to avoid present dangers, irresolute princes follow the neutral path most of the time, and most of the time they come to ruin.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
