Resent

How to spell resent

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce resent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does resent mean?

1. verbTo feel bitter, indignant, or aggrieved about something perceived as unfair.

Resent in a sentence

• Many staff resent the new policy on unpaid overtime.

• She began to resent the long hours her job demanded.

Where does resent come from?

Language of origin: French

This word arrived in English in the early 1600s from the French ressentir, meaning 'to feel strongly' or 'to feel back'. The French verb was built from the prefix re-, here acting as an intensifier, and sentir 'to feel', which descends from the Latin sentire, meaning 'to perceive or feel'. In its earliest English use it could carry positive feeling, so a person might once 'resent' a kindness with gratitude, but over the 1600s the sense narrowed sharply to the bitter, grudging feeling we mean today. The same Latin sentire root sits inside a whole family of everyday words, including 'sentiment', 'sense', 'consent' and 'sentinel', and noticing that shared 'sent' keeps the spelling on track. The single s, pronounced like a z, is the main trap, since the word looks as though it might double the letter the way 'dessert' or 'possess' do.

How the word is built

• re- (intensive, again)
• sent (from Latin sentire: to feel)