Word & Part of Speech resilience (noun) (occasionally resiliency, same sense; adjectival form: resilient) Oxford Link resilience – Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries Oxford Learner's Dictionaries Pronunciation BrE IPA: /rɪˈzɪl.i.əns/ (or /rɪˈzɪ.li.əns/) AmE IPA: /rɪˈzɪl.jəns/ Syllabification re-sil-ience Primary stress: reˈsilience Sense chosen The general-purpose sense: the ability to recover quickly from difficulties or setbacks; toughness Oxford Learner's Dictionaries +1 Definition The capacity to bounce back quickly from hardship, stress, shock, injury, or adversity. Example Sentence Despite the setback in funding, the research team showed remarkable resilience and resumed work within weeks. Similar Words fortitude (formal, courage in enduring adversity) tenacity (strong persistence) elasticity (more physical sense; metaphorical) robustness (strength, resistance to damage) adaptability (emphasis on adjusting) Origin (Etymology) From Latin resilire “to spring back, rebound,” via resiliens (present participle) meaning “leaping back.” Oxford Reference +2 OneLook +2 Usage Note This is relatively neutral to formal register. Common in psychology, business, ecology, engineering, and management texts. (Tag: [formal / semi-technical]) Collocations verb + noun: demonstrate resilience, build resilience, display resilience adj + noun: psychological resilience, economic resilience, institutional resilience noun + noun: resilience capacity, resilience factor Word Family / Morphology resilient (adjective) resiliency (noun, less common variant) resile (verb, rare, “to recover”) resiliently (adverb) CEFR & Frequency CEFR: C1 — suited to learners who already have a strong vocabulary base Frequency band: 3 (moderate frequency) — this is a moderately common advanced word, especially in academic, policy, or psychological discourse Common Errors / Near-synonym Distinctions resilience vs resistance: resisting means withstanding (preventing change), whereas resilience means recovering after change. Avoid using resilience where persistence or endurance is more precise (persistence implies continuous sustained effort, resilience emphasizes recovery). Translations (aligned with chosen sense) Spanish: resiliencia (feminine) French: résilience (feminine) German: Resilienz (feminine) Chinese: 韧性 (rènxìng), 恢复力 (huīfùlì) Arabic: المرونة النفسية (al-murūna al-nafsiyya), المرونة Countability / Notes Uncountable (mass noun) in typical use (you talk about someone’s resilience, not a resilience). The variant resiliency exists but is less common in British English.