Resentment

How to spell resentment

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce resentment

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does resentment mean?

1. nounA feeling of bitter, lingering anger or displeasure at having been treated unfairly.

Resentment in a sentence

• Years of unpaid overtime bred deep resentment among the staff.

• She felt a quiet resentment toward the colleague who took credit for her work.

Where does resentment come from?

Language of origin: French

Resentment arrived in English in the early 1600s from the French ressentiment, a noun built on the verb ressentir, meaning 'to feel strongly' or 'to feel in return'. That verb combined the prefix re-, which here carried an intensifying force rather than its usual sense of 'again', with the Latin sentire, meaning 'to feel' or 'to perceive'. The same sentire root sits inside a whole family of familiar English words, including 'sentiment', 'sense', 'consent' and 'resent', so the shared spelling of that 'sent' core is a useful memory anchor. Early uses could describe any strong feeling, even gratitude, but the word quickly narrowed to mean the bitter, lingering displeasure a person nurses after being wronged. The single s and single t, with the soft -ment ending, are the main things writers need to keep straight.

How the word is built

• re- (intensive, originally 'back, again')
• sent (from Latin sentire: to feel)
• -ment (noun-forming suffix)