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definitions

resource

[ree-sawrs, -sohrs, -zawrs, -zohrs, ri-sawrs, -sohrs, -zawrs, -zohrs]
See more synonyms for resource on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a source of supply, support, or aid, especially one that can be readily drawn upon when needed.
  2. resources, the collective wealth of a country or its means of producing wealth.
  3. Usually resources. money, or any property that can be converted into money; assets.
  4. Often resources. an available means afforded by the mind or one's personal capabilities: to have resource against loneliness.
  5. an action or measure to which one may have recourse in an emergency; expedient.
  6. capability in dealing with a situation or in meeting difficulties: a woman of resource.

Origin of resource

1640–50; < French ressource, Old French ressourse, noun derivative of resourdre to rise up < Latin resurgere, equivalent to re- re- + surgere to rise up, lift; see resurge, source
Related formsre·source·less, adjectivere·source·less·ness, noun

Synonyms for resource

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1, 5. resort. 5. means, contrivance, shift. 6. inventiveness, adapability, ingenuity, cleverness.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for resource

ability, talent, wealth, means, support, system, capability, source, capital, property, reserve, stratagem, ingenuity, appliance, creation, course, initiative, measure, cleverness, makeshift

Examples from the Web for resource

Contemporary Examples of resource

Historical Examples of resource

  • She was apt not only to know what she talked about, but she was a woman of resource, unafraid of action.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • "And have left her no other resource," said Harry, coloring still more.

    Malbone

    Thomas Wentworth Higginson

  • This was his only resource against the unpleasantness of the day.

    Weighed and Wanting

    George MacDonald

  • Only the people, long-suffering and generous, remain as his resource.

  • But they were told, that this was the resource of the Jews of old.

British Dictionary definitions for resource

resource

noun
  1. capability, ingenuity, and initiative; quick-wittednessa man of resource
  2. (often plural) a source of economic wealth, esp of a country (mineral, land, labour, etc) or business enterprise (capital, equipment, personnel, etc)
  3. a supply or source of aid or support; something resorted to in time of need
  4. a means of doing something; expedient
Derived Formsresourceless, adjectiveresourcelessness, noun

Word Origin for resource

C17: from Old French ressourse relief, from resourdre to rise again, from Latin resurgere, from re- + surgere to rise
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for resource
n.

1610s, "means of supplying a want or deficiency," from French resourse "a source, spring," noun use of fem. past participle of Old French resourdre "to rally, raise again," from Latin resurgere "rise again" (see resurgent). Resources "a country's wealth" first recorded 1779.

v.

1975, from resource (n.). Related: Resourced; resourcing.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper