Result

How to spell result

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce result

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does result mean?

1. nounAn outcome, effect, or final figure produced by an action or process.
2. verbTo occur or follow as a consequence of something.

Result in a sentence

• noun

  The exam result arrived by email this morning.

• verb

  Poor planning can result in costly delays.

• noun

  The company posted a strong financial result for the quarter.

• verb

  These mistakes often result from rushing the work.

Where does result come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the medieval Latin resultare, meaning 'to spring back' or 'to rebound', which was formed from re- 'back' and salire 'to leap or jump'. The same salire root gives English words like 'salient' and 'assault', all carrying the idea of leaping. By the time the word reached late Middle English in the 1400s, the literal sense of physically bouncing back had softened into the figurative idea of an effect that follows from or 'springs out of' a cause. From there it settled into the modern meaning of an outcome or consequence, and later the noun sense of a final figure or score. The spelling stays close to the Latin, with the silent leap of salire hidden inside the single 's' and the '-sult' ending that surprises writers expecting a doubled letter.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• sult (from Latin salire: to leap/jump)