Unresolved

How to spell unresolved

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce unresolved

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unresolved mean?

1. adjectiveNot settled, decided, or brought to a conclusion.

Unresolved in a sentence

• The dispute over the boundary remains unresolved after two years.

• Several technical issues were left unresolved in the final report.

Where does unresolved come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on the Latin verb solvere, which literally meant 'to loosen, untie, or release', and which also gives us 'solve', 'dissolve', and 'solvent'. Prefixing re- (meaning 'again' or 'back') produced resolvere, 'to loosen back' or 'to break into parts', from which English took 'resolve' through Old French in the 1300s; in time 'resolve' came to mean settling a question or reaching a firm decision. The native English prefix un- (meaning 'not') was then attached to the past participle 'resolved' to describe anything that has not been settled, decided, or worked out. So although the parts arrived at different times and from different languages, the layered sense is transparent: 'not loosened back into a settled state'. The spelling trap lies in the quiet middle: the single -s- of solv (never -z-, despite the /z/ sound) and the unstressed schwa-like vowels around it.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• re- (again, back)
• solv (from Latin solvere: to loosen, release)
• -ed (adjective/past-participle suffix)