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Definition of resilience
1 : the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress
2 : an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change
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Examples of resilience in a Sentence
… the concert remained a remarkable tribute to Dylan's resilience and continued relevance. —Susan Richardson, Rolling Stone, 15 Dec. 1994
He squeezed the rubber with a clamp and then released it—demonstrating with this painfully simple experiment that the material lost its resilience and therefore its ability to flex rapidly enough to protect the rocket joint from tumultuous hot gases. —James Gleick, New York Times Book Review, 13 Nov. 1988
With amazing resilience the two tribes pulled together and set out to found a new town farther up the river. —Carolyn Gilman, American Indian Art Magazine, Spring 1988
It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way, even by death, and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment. —Bram Stoker, Dracula, 1897
The rescue workers showed remarkable resilience in dealing with the difficult conditions.
Cold temperatures caused the material to lose resilience.
Recent Examples of resilience from the Web
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Students also will receive training in their classes to emphasize good decision making, healthy choices and resilience.
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Their resilience, tenacity, and grit enabled them to not just beat, but destroy the odds.
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The most remarkable thing about Rodman may be the resilience of the body that made him a basketball all-timer.
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Britain's $2.5 trillion economy has shown resilience since last year's referendum although sterling fell 25 cents against the dollar in the hours immediately after the shock vote.
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Over the past decade, as manufacturing employment shrank across the Rust Belt, Warsaw displayed a rare resilience, steadily adding good-paying factory positions that do not require a college degree.
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With so much at stake, Markin kept his composure and demonstrated formidable resilience by setting his opponent problems every step of the way.
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Like her husband, Hillary also has a resilience that is superhuman.
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The last nine months have only emphasized Crosby’s resilience.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'resilience'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Using resilience Outside of Physics
In physics, resilience is the ability of an elastic material (such as rubber or animal tissue) to absorb energy (such as from a blow) and release that energy as it springs back to its original shape. The recovery that occurs in this phenomenon can be viewed as analogous to a person's ability to bounce back after a jarring setback. Author P. G. Wodehouse took note of this when he wrote: "There is in certain men … a quality of resilience, a sturdy refusal to acknowledge defeat, which aids them as effectively in affairs of the heart as in encounters of a sterner and more practical kind." The word resilience derives from the present participle of the Latin verb resilire, meaning "to jump back" or "to recoil." The base of resilire is salire, a verb meaning "to leap" that also pops up in the etymologies of such sprightly words as sally and somersault.
Origin and Etymology of resilience
see resilient
Other Physics Terms
RESILIENCE Defined for English Language Learners
resilience
playDefinition of resilience for English Language Learners
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: the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens
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: the ability of something to return to its original shape after it has been pulled, stretched, pressed, bent, etc.
Medical Dictionary
resilience
playMedical Definition of resilience
1: the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress
2: an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change emotional resilience
Learn More about resilience
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Spanish Central: Translation of resilience Nglish: Translation of resilience for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of resilience for Arabic speakers
Seen and Heard
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