Meaning & use
resilient
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Able to recover or adjust after difficulty, pressure, loss, or change.
Grammar: Compares with more/most resilient. Often followed by in the face of.
Patterns
- resilient in the face of something
- emotionally resilient
- remain resilient
The town was resilient after the flood and rebuilt its library first.
Children can be remarkably resilient when routines stay stable.
A resilient team learns from failure instead of hiding it.
adjectivenot comparabletechnicalphysics
Able to return to the original shape after being bent, stretched, or compressed.
Grammar: Technical for materials; usually not compared. Often before a noun or after be: a resilient foam.
Patterns
- resilient material
- resilient rubber
- highly resilient surface
Rubber is resilient and springs back after pressure.
The sole uses a resilient foam for running shoes.
Engineers tested how resilient the coating remained after repeated impact.
Word forms
| comparative | more resilient |
|---|---|
| superlative | most resilient |
Common combinations
- emotionally resilient
- Therapy helped her become more emotionally resilient after the divorce.
- resilient supply chain
- The company built a resilient supply chain with several suppliers.
- resilient economy
- A diverse economy is usually more resilient during a crisis.
- highly resilient
- The material is highly resilient under repeated bending.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tough
- Strong and hard to damage; resilient specifically stresses recovery after strain.
- hardy
- Able to survive difficult conditions, especially climate or hardship.
- adaptable
- Able to change to fit new conditions; it does not always imply recovering strength.
- flexible
- Able to bend or change easily; for materials it may overlap, but for people it is less about rebounding.
Opposites
Word family
- resilience noun
- the ability to recover after difficulty.
- resiliency noun
- another form of resilience; less common.
- resiliently adverb
- in a way that recovers after pressure.
Commonly confused: resilient or resistant?
resilient vs resistant
Resistant means able to oppose or withstand something, such as water or disease; resilient means able to bounce back.
Practice
Which word best fits: “After the fire, the neighborhood proved ___ and reopened the bakery within a month.”?
Choose one answer.
Resilient means recovering after a shock, exactly the post-fire recovery. Resistant means withstanding attack, while rigid and fragile describe the opposite of recovery.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “resilient”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.