resolve

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   reach a decision

   I resolved never to drink again.

2. 2
   verb

   make clearly visible

   can this image be resolved?

3. 3
   verb

   To find a solution to (a problem).

   Exeter. Shall I call in Thambaſſadors my Liege? / King. Not yet my Couſin, til we be reſolude / Of ſome ſerious matters touching vs and France.

4. 4
   verb

   To reduce to simple or intelligible notions; to make clear or certain; to unravel; to explain.

   to resolve a riddle

5. 5
   verb

   To make a firm decision to do something. To become determined to reach a certain goal or take a certain action.

   I resolve to finish this work before I go home.

6. 6
   verb

   To determine or decide in purpose; to make ready in mind; to fix; to settle.

   He was resolved by an unexpected event.

7. 7
   verb

   To come to an agreement or make peace; patch up relationship, settle differences, bury the hatchet.

   After two weeks of bickering, they finally resolved their differences.

8. 8
   verb

   To break down into constituent parts; to decompose; to disintegrate; to return to a simpler constitution or a primeval state.

   The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill.

Etymology

From Middle English resolven, from Old French resolver, a learned borrowing of Latin resolvō (“loosen, thaw, melt, resolve”), equivalent to re- + solve. Piecewise doublet of re-solve.