Etymologically
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resolve

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 13:11. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɹɪˈzɒlv/, /ɹiːˈzɒlv/ (UK); /ɹɪˈzɑlv/, /ɹɪˈzɔlv/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English resolven, borrowed from Old French resolver or directly borrowed from Latin resolvere (“to loosen, undo, settle”),[2][3][4] from re- (“back; intensive”) and solvere (“to loosen, release, explain”) (see solve).[3][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To dissolve, break into parts: about 1374–80, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

From separate into components come the sense of reducing something by mental analysis (late 14th century), solving a problem (1577), and then deciding or determining after analysis (1520s); passing a resolution is from the 1580s, and settling a doubtful point or dispute from 1612.[3][2] In optics, to distinguish the parts of an object, it is from 1785.[3] The noun, firmness of purpose, is from 1591, in Shakespeare's Henry VI,[2][6] and a formal decision of a deliberative body from the 1650s, now American.[3][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1374 – to dissolve.[2][6]
  • 1520s – to decide.[3]
  • 1577 – to solve a problem.[2]
  • 1591 – firmness of purpose (noun).[2]
  • 1612 – to settle a doubt.[2]
  • 1785 – in optics.[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To find a solution to; to settle: resolve a dispute.
  2. To decide firmly on a course of action.
  3. Of a committee or assembly, to decide by a formal vote.
  4. To separate into component parts; to analyse.
  5. (music) Of a discord, to pass into a concord.

Noun

  1. Firm determination to do something.

Word family

  • resolvability
  • resolvable
  • resolver
  • preresolve

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press