resolve English · revision 7085

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1374|origins=la resolvo}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɹɪˈzɒlv/, /ɹiːˈzɒlv/ ''(UK)''; /ɹɪˈzɑlv/, /ɹɪˈzɔlv/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English resolven, [[bor|fro|resolver]] or directly [[bor|la|resolvo|alt=resolvere|t=to loosen, undo, settle]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[m|la|re-|t=back; intensive]] and [[m|la|solvo|alt=solvere|t=to loosen, release, explain]] (see [[solve]]).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To dissolve, break into parts: about 1374–80, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==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.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) In optics, to distinguish the parts of an object, it is from 1785.^(Etymonline) The noun, firmness of purpose, is from 1591, in Shakespeare's ''Henry VI'',^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) and a formal decision of a deliberative body from the 1650s, now American.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1374 – to dissolve.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1520s – to decide.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1577 – to solve a problem.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1591 – firmness of purpose (noun).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1612 – to settle a doubt.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1785 – in optics.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To find a solution to; to settle: ''resolve a dispute''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To decide firmly on a course of action.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of a committee or assembly, to decide by a formal vote.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To separate into component parts; to [[analyse]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(music)'' Of a discord, to pass into a concord.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # Firm determination to do something.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[resolvability]]

+ * [[resolvable]]

+ * [[resolver]]

+ * [[preresolve]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[resolution]]

+ * [[resolute]]

+ * [[solve]]

+ * [[dissolve]]

+ * [[absolve]]

+ * [[solution]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}