Resolving

How to spell resolving

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce resolving

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does resolving mean?

1. verbIn the process of settling a problem, dispute, or uncertainty, or of firmly deciding on a course of action.
2. verbDistinguishing or rendering visible as separate two close objects or details, as with a lens, microscope, or screen.

Resolving in a sentence

• The mediator spent the afternoon resolving the dispute between the two departments.

• The new telescope is capable of resolving stars that once appeared as a single point.

• Resolving the billing error took three phone calls to the bank.

• The microscope had no trouble resolving the two adjacent cells.

Where does resolving come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows from the Latin verb resolvere, which literally meant 'to loosen again' or 'to untie', built from the prefix re- (here giving a sense of reversal or intensity) and solvere (to loosen, release, or dissolve). In Latin the idea of untying a knot extended naturally to clearing up a difficulty or breaking something down into its parts, and that double life still echoes in the modern word. English took it in through Old French and Latin during the late 1300s, first carrying senses of dissolving or melting away before settling into the meanings of firmly deciding and of settling a dispute. The same solvere root sits inside 'dissolve', 'solvent', and 'solution', and noticing that family helps you keep the single s and the v in place. The -ing form here is simply the present participle, so the trap is remembering that the silent e of 'resolve' is dropped before the ending.

How the word is built

• re- (again, back)
• solv (from Latin solvere: to loosen, release)
• -ing (verb/gerund suffix)