resident

American  

[rez-i-duhnt] / ˈrɛz ɪ dənt /

noun

1. a person who resides in a place.

2. a physician who joins the medical staff of a hospital as a salaried employee for a specified period to gain advanced training usually in a particular field, being in full-time attendance at the hospital and often living on the premises.

3. a diplomatic representative, inferior in rank to an ambassador, residing at a foreign court.

4. (formerly) a representative of the British governor general at a court in India.

5. (formerly) the governor of a residency in the Dutch East Indies.

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adjective

1. residing; dwelling in a place.

2. living or staying at a place in discharge of duty.

3. (of qualities) existing; intrinsic.

4. (of birds) not migratory.

5. Computers.

   1. encoded and permanently available to a computer user, as a font in a printer's ROM or software on a CD-ROM.

   2. (of a computer program) currently active or standing by in computer memory.

resident British  

/ ˈrɛzɪdənt /

noun

1. a person who resides in a place

2. Former name: inmate.  social welfare an occupant of a welfare agency home

3. (esp formerly) a representative of the British government in a British protectorate

4. (esp in the 17th century) a diplomatic representative ranking below an ambassador

5. (in India, formerly) a representative of the British governor general at the court of a native prince

6. a bird or other animal that does not migrate

7. a physician who lives in the hospital where he or she works while undergoing specialist training after completing his or her internship Compare house physician

8. a junior doctor, esp a house officer, who lives in the hospital in which he or she works

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adjective

1. living in a place; residing

2. living or staying at a place in order to discharge a duty, etc

3. (of qualities, characteristics, etc) existing or inherent (in)

4. (of birds and other animals) not in the habit of migrating

Other Word Forms

• pseudoresident adjective
• residentship noun

Etymology

Origin of resident

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Middle French, from Latin resident- (stem of residēns ), present participle of residēre “to reside”; reside, -ent

Example Sentences

As a permanent resident, Mami could easily travel back and forth between Anaheim and El Cargadero when others had to wait for years for visas or come into el Norte without papers.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2026

A resident in Isfahan said balaclava-clad security forces had set up new checkpoints in the central Iranian city and nearby towns over the weekend.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

Another Manx resident, Garry Bolton reported a similar ordeal in Turkey, when he travelled there with his partner for her birthday - but said they never made it past the airport.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

Christine Gast, a New Jersey resident who shops for her five nephews, is big on thrift stores, especially for the clothes and stuffed animals she purchases to fill out those baskets.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 2, 2026

When you consider the size of an individual termite, photographed standing alongside his nest, he ranks with the New Yorker and shows a better sense of organization than a resident of Los Angeles.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Related Words

• citizen
• dweller
• inhabitant
• inmate
• local
• native
• resident
• tenant