Resilience (noun, uncountable) is the ability to recover quickly from difficulties or setbacks — the capacity to withstand adversity and return to a normal or improved state.
Example: "The team showed great resilience after losing three matches in a row."
What Does Resilience Mean?
Resilience comes from the Latin resilire, meaning "to spring back" or "to rebound." In English, it first appeared in the 17th century to describe physical materials — the resilience of rubber, for instance, describes how it returns to its original shape after being stretched. By the 20th century, the word had expanded into psychology, ecology, and everyday language.
Today, resilience is most commonly used to describe a personal quality: the psychological strength to recover from failure, illness, loss, or setbacks. Psychologists emphasise that resilience is not an innate trait but a skill that can be developed through practice, strong social support, and positive coping strategies. The phrase "build resilience" reflects this idea — it is something you cultivate over time.
Resilience also appears in technical contexts. In engineering, a resilient material absorbs shock without breaking. In ecology, a resilient ecosystem recovers after disturbance. In business, supply chain resilience means the ability to adapt when disruptions occur.
Pronunciation Guide
IPA: /rɪˈzɪliəns/ — four syllables: re-SIL-i-ence. The stress falls on the second syllable. The final syllable -ence is unstressed and sounds like /əns/. Avoid placing stress on the first syllable (REZ-i-lience), which sounds unnatural to British speakers.
Example Sentences
| Sentence | Level / Note |
|---|---|
| The team showed great resilience after losing three matches in a row. | C1 — sport context |
| Building resilience is key to maintaining good mental health. | C1 — psychology / health |
| The city demonstrated remarkable resilience in the aftermath of the floods. | C1 — community / news |
| Children who develop resilience early tend to cope better with adult challenges. | C1 — academic / developmental |
| The company's resilience during the economic downturn impressed its investors. | C1 — business / professional |
Word Family
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms
- toughness — ability to endure hardship
- perseverance — continuing despite difficulty
- tenacity — determined persistence
- fortitude — courage in adversity
- grit — courage and determination (informal)
Antonyms
- fragility — easily broken or damaged
- vulnerability — susceptibility to harm
- weakness — lack of strength
- defeatism — tendency to give up
Common Collocations
- build resilience — "Schools should help children build resilience."
- show resilience — "The community showed remarkable resilience."
- emotional / psychological resilience — "She has developed strong emotional resilience."
- resilience training — "The programme includes resilience training for employees."
- remarkable / extraordinary resilience — "He displayed extraordinary resilience under pressure."
- test someone's resilience — "The crisis tested the team's resilience to its limits."
Common Mistakes
Watch Out For
She showed a great resilience. (resilience is uncountable — no article needed)
She showed great resilience. (no article with uncountable nouns)
He is very resilience. (resilience is a noun, not an adjective)
He is very resilient. (use the adjective form: resilient)
They resilienced after the crisis. (no verb form exists)
They bounced back / recovered after the crisis. (use a verb like bounce back, recover, overcome)
Use in a Sentence — Try It Yourself
Can you complete this sentence? "Despite the many challenges, she demonstrated ________ by returning to work within a month." Think about which form of the word fits: resilience, resilient, or resiliently.
Related Words
Practise This Word
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