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resilience

ri-ZIL-yuhnss /rɪˈzɪliəns/

nounB2IELTSTOEFLACT

GeneralProfessional

The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness or elasticity.

Resilience isn't just about 'bouncing back' to where you were; in psychology, it often implies growing or adapting through the struggle.

The story behind the word. The word comes from the Latin 're-' (back) and 'salire' (to jump). It originally described the way a physical object, like a spring, would 'jump back' into its original shape after being compressed.

Word relationships

fortitude: 'Fortitude' is more about courage in pain, while 'resilience' is about the ability to recover and adapt.
elasticity: Usually used for physical materials, whereas 'resilience' is the standard term for people.

fragility: The tendency to break or fail easily under pressure.
vulnerability: The state of being easily hurt or attacked.

Commonly confused with

resistance: 'Resistance' is fighting against a force; 'resilience' is recovering after the force has acted.

Word family

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

Collocations

emotional resilience
build resilience
test someone's resilience
remarkable resilience

Idioms & expressions

bounce back

Example sentences

"The resilience of the survivors was remarkable, as they managed to rebuild their lives despite the immense loss." Discussing the psychological strength of survivors.
"Resilience is not a fixed trait; it is a process that can be developed over time through practice." A quote about the nature of human strength.

Memory hook

Think of a rubber band that 'resiles' or jumps back after you pull it. The leap back.

When not to use

Do not use it to describe someone who is simply unaffected by stress; resilience implies that stress was felt but overcome.

Fun facts

In materials science, resilience is the ability of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically.