resigner

Resigner is a rare noun denoting someone who resigns again, normally after previously resigning the same position or office. It is not generally used for a person making a first resignation; “person who resigns,” “resigning official,” or simply “resignation” is more usual in contemporary English. The word can therefore appear in reports concerning repeated resignations, reinstatement, or disputes over whether an individual has genuinely left a post. Its spelling may initially suggest a more familiar compound, but the re- forms part of the base word resign rather than functioning as an independent prefix with the meaning “again.” Outside legal notices, institutional reports, and discussions of repeated departures, resigner is likely to sound unusual or old-fashioned. Nevertheless, it provides a compact noun for identifying someone who has resigned twice.

A person who resigns a position or office again, after having previously done so.

Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.

Where does resigner come from?

Resigner is formed from resign with the agentive suffix -er. Resign ultimately comes from Latin resignare, a compound of the prefix re- and signare, meaning “to sign” or “seal”; resignare originally conveyed the idea of unsealing or cancelling. The English verb later developed the sense “to give up or relinquish an office or position,” from which resigner was formed with the additional meaning of resigning again.

How resigner is actually used

This is a rare noun. In ordinary usage, “person who resigns” or “resignation” is usually more natural and less context-dependent.

Easily confused with resigner

Rhymes with resigner