resilient
Americanadjective
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(of an object or material) capable of regaining its original shape or position after bending, stretching, compression, or other deformation; elastic
-
(of a person) recovering easily and quickly from shock, illness, hardship, etc; irrepressible
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of resilient
First recorded in 1635–45; from Latin resilient-, stem of resiliēns, present participle of resilīre “to spring back,” equivalent to re- re- + -sil-, combining form of salīre “to leap, jump”; see salient
Explanation
When something is strong and able to recover from damage quickly, call it resilient. If you're rough on your toys, the ones that don't break are resilient. Formed from the Latin verb resilire, "to leap back," a resilient person is able to recover from an illness or a bad experience quickly. Politicians who are resilient to media criticism do not let critical journalists affect their focus, performance, or relationship to their constituents. An object that is bent or stretched and returns to its original shape quickly is also resilient.
Vocabulary lists containing resilient
"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury
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"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury
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Things Fall Apart
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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.
Analysts said that showed the world's top economy remained resilient in the face of surging prices, but ramped up bets on the Fed raising interest rates.
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
Gold’s slump has followed Friday’s better-than-expected May U.S. employment report, which reinforced the picture of a resilient economy that didn’t need interest-rate cuts.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 8, 2026
By allowing missions to work across multiple networks, PExT could help make future space communications more flexible and resilient.
From Science Daily • Jun. 6, 2026
Further weighing on sentiment are building bets that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates this year following recent resilient U.S. economic data.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026
So they’d had Lexie first, in 1980, then Trip the next year and Moody the year after that, and Mrs. Richardson had secretly been proud of how fertile her body had proved, how resilient.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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.
