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resilience

rih-ZIL-yuns /rɪˈzɪl.jəns/

nounC1GREIELTSCAT

GeneralBusinessPsychology

The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness; the ability of a system to return to its original state after a disturbance.

Resilience isn't just about 'not breaking'; it's about how fast you can 'bounce back' once something does go wrong.

The story behind the word. From the Latin 'resilire,' which means 'to leap back' or 'recoil.' Imagine a spring that you compress; its resilience is what makes it jump back to its original length.

Word relationships

durability: Durability is the ability to last a long time; resilience is the ability to recover from damage.
fortitude: Fortitude is mental strength in the face of pain; resilience is the systemic ability to recover.

fragility: Fragility is the tendency to break easily and not recover, the opposite of resilience.

Commonly confused with

robustness: Robustness is the ability to resist change; resilience is the ability to recover from it.

Word family

resilient (adjective): Able to recoil or spring back into shape.

Collocations

build resilience
economic resilience
supply chain resilience
emotional resilience

Example sentences

"Resilience is the ability of a company to bounce back from a disruption—whether it's a natural disaster or a competitor's new product." Discussing corporate survival in a volatile world.
"Despite the hardships of her early life, she showed remarkable resilience and went on to graduate at the top of her class." Describing a child's personality.

Memory hook

Think of a 'rubber' band; it has 'resilience' because it 'resiles' (leaps back) when you let go. Bounce back fast.

When not to use

Don't use it for things that are just 'strong' and never change; that is 'robustness.' Resilience implies a recovery from change.

Fun facts

The term was originally used in physics to describe the elasticity of materials before it was adopted by psychology and business.