Resilient

Able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions; showing toughness and adaptability.

adjective

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Imagine This

Imagine a tennis ball that is squeezed, then instantly springs back to its original shape; that quick return to form is resilience in action.

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Sounds Like

ri-ZIL-yuhnt

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Looks Like

Looks like resilience, sharing the same root and the idea of bouncing back; ends with -ent as a common adjective ending.

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Remember This

Resilience is the capacity to recover from setbacks, adapt to change, and keep going. Resilience (noun) and resiliency (alternate noun) refer to this quality.

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Other Forms

resiliencenoun

resiliencynoun

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Connect With

endurance, adaptability, toughness, elasticity, perseverance

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Note

Use resilient to describe people, systems, or materials that recover quickly. Do not confuse with resolute, which means determined rather than able to recover.

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Study Deeper

Examples

The community showed resilient spirits after the hurricane, rebuilding within weeks.
A resilient material can deform under stress and return to its original shape.

Synonyms

toughhardyrobustadaptabletenacious

Antonyms

fragilebrittlevulnerable

Etymology

From Latin resilire 'to rebound', from re- 'back' + salire 'to leap; jump'; the sense is to spring back from adversity.

Mnemonic

Think of a rubber ball that resists being squashed: it rebounds immediately, illustrating resilience.