resentful

Etymology

It is formed from English resent + -ful,^[2][3][4] probably, as the OED says.^[5] The verb is from Anglo-Norman resenter and Middle French resentir, now French ressentir,^[5] from Old French resentir (“to feel again, feel in turn”),^[2] formed from re- and sentir (“to feel”),^[2] from Latin sentiō (“to feel, think”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OED has two senses from 1656: "charged with emotion, heartfelt", a rare use, in Lord Orrery's Parthenissa, and "feeling or expressing resentment", in the Earl of Monmouth's translation of Boccalini.^[5][6] Etymonline says the 1650s.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb resent could mean feeling pain from about 1600, and even appreciating or being grateful for something from the 1640s, uses now obsolete.^[2] The adjective's lasting sense goes with the verb's sense of taking something ill, recorded from the 1620s.^[5][2] Johnson (1755) defines it as malignant, easily provoked to anger and long retaining it.^[7]

Timeline

• 1656 – heartfelt, charged with emotion (obsolete).^[5]
• 1656 – feeling or expressing resentment; bitter, aggrieved.^[5][6]
• 19th century – the derivatives resentfully and resentfulness.^[3][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Feeling bitter or indignant at having been treated unfairly: She grew resentful of her brother's success.^{[9][10][11][5]}
2. Caused by or expressing such a feeling: a resentful glance.^[6][10][5]
3. Inclined to resent things; easily offended.^[6][11][7]

Word family

• resentfully
• resentfulness
• unresentful

Related words

• resent
• resentment
• sense

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt