Word of the Day

: February 12, 2020

resile

verb rih-ZYLE

What It Means

: recoil, retract; especially : to return to a prior position

resile in Context

"Sir Keir Starmer, who has also announced his candidacy, said his aim was also to restore 'trust' in Labour. The manifesto, he conceded, was 'overloaded,' yet he did not resile from its ambitions." — The Telegraph (London), 6 Jan. 2020

"Morrison is determined for the card trials to succeed, with community support, and won't resile from his view that the best form of welfare remains a job. Critics of the program misconceive what welfare is about, he says." — Max Koslowski, The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 Sept. 2019

Did You Know?

Resile is a resilient word: it's been in use in English since the early 1500s. It's also a cousin of resilient, and both words derive from the Latin verb resilire, which means "to jump back" or "recoil." (Resilire, in turn, comes from salire, meaning "to leap.") Resilient focuses on the ability of something to "bounce back" from damage, whereas resile generally applies to someone or something that withdraws from an agreement or "jumps back" from a stated position. Resile is a word that shows up only occasionally in U.S. sources; it is more common in British and especially Australian English.