resource

[ree-sawrs, -sohrs, -zawrs, -zohrs, ri-sawrs, -sohrs, -zawrs, -zohrs]

noun

1. a source of supply, support, or aid, especially one that can be readily drawn upon when needed.

   Synonyms: service, help, assistance, support, aid

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.

   Synonyms: wealth, riches, deep pockets, property, money, funds, cash, capital

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.

   Synonyms: device, shift, resort, recourse, means, contrivance

6. capability in dealing with a situation or in meeting difficulties.

   a woman of resource.

   Synonyms: ingenuity, adaptability

resource

/ -ˈsɔːs, rɪˈzɔːs /

noun

1. capability, ingenuity, and initiative; quick-wittedness

   a 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

Other Word Forms

• resourceless adjective
• resourcelessness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of resource¹

First recorded in 1640–50; from French ressource, Old French ressourse, noun derivative of resourdre “to rise up,” from Latin resurgere, equivalent to re- re- + surgere “to rise up, lift”; resurge, source

Word History and Origins

Origin of resource¹

C17: from Old French ressourse relief, from resourdre to rise again, from Latin resurgere , from _re- + surgere to rise

Example Sentences

Food banks say they are preparing for a surge in demand as benefits lapse, but warned that they won’t have enough resources to feed a sharp increase in people.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

When the cartographer James Cheshire stumbled into the room in University College London several years ago, he encountered less a resource for mapping the modern globe than “an epitaph of a world we once knew.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Far from being despotic, Louis sought to be a constitutional monarch, with representative institutions that could mobilize consent and resources behind state policy.

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He accused the US of hoping to seize the country's natural resources, including reserves of gold, oil and copper.

Read more on BBC

To brace for the possibility of a longer-than-expected shutdown, consumers using hardship programs may need to look into secondary resources that can provide a “backstop,” he said.

Read more on MarketWatch

Related Words

• ability 
• capability 
• capital 
• means 
• property 
• reserve 
• source 
• support 
• system 
• talent 
• wealth