Meaning & use
be resourceful
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Meaning
phraselinking
To be good at finding quick and clever ways to solve problems or deal with difficulties.
Grammar: It is used with a subject and the verb 'be', e.g. 'She is resourceful.' It describes a person's ability.
Patterns
- be resourceful in something
- be resourceful enough to do something
When the power went out, the family was resourceful and used candles and board games.
You need to be resourceful if you want to travel on a small budget.
She is resourceful in finding free materials for her art projects.
Common combinations
- be resourceful in
- He is resourceful in solving technical problems.
- be resourceful enough
- Are you resourceful enough to fix this without instructions?
- be highly resourceful
- The team was highly resourceful during the crisis.
Synonyms and how they differ
- be inventive
- Inventive emphasizes creating new ideas or things, while resourceful stresses making good use of what is available.
- be ingenious
- Ingenious often suggests cleverness in a specific, clever solution; resourceful is broader and about general ability.
Opposites
Word family
- resourceful adjective
- Able to find clever ways to overcome difficulties.
- resourcefully adverb
- In a way that shows clever problem-solving.
- resourcefulness noun
- The quality of being able to solve problems cleverly.
Commonly confused: be resourceful or be rich?
be resourceful vs be rich
Resourceful means clever at solving problems, not having a lot of money.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'be resourceful' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Resourceful at' is the correct preposition pattern. 'Resourceful of' and 'resourceful for' are not used, and 'to finding' is grammatically wrong here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “be resourceful”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.