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resilience

ri-ZIL-yents /rɪˈzɪliəns/

nounB2IELTSGRETOEFL

TechnicalPsychologicalGeneral

The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness; the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape.

In engineering, it refers to a system's ability to absorb a shock (like a flood or earthquake) and remain functional.

The story behind the word. From the Latin 'resilire,' meaning 'to jump back' or 'rebound.' Imagine a spring that is compressed and then jumps back to its original shape.

Word relationships

durability: Durability is the ability to last a long time; resilience is the ability to bounce back from a shock.

fragility: Fragility means easily broken; resilience means tough and flexible.

Commonly confused with

resistance: Resistance is the ability to stop something from happening; resilience is the ability to recover after it happens.

Word family

resilient (adjective): Able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.
resiliently (adverb): In a way that shows resilience.

Collocations

climate resilience
economic resilience
structural resilience
build resilience

Example sentences

"The city's climate resilience plan includes building sea walls and improving drainage." Urban Planning
"Children often show remarkable resilience in the face of adversity." Psychology

Memory hook

Resilience is like a rubber band—it can be stretched but it 'resiles' (jumps back). Bounce back.

When not to use

Don't use to mean 'invincibility'; a resilient structure might be damaged, but it doesn't fail completely.

Fun facts

In ecology, resilience is the amount of disturbance an ecosystem can handle before it shifts into a different state.