What does resiling mean?
Resiling is the present participle of the formal verb resile. Its principal meaning is withdrawing from an agreement, commitment, claim, or other position, as when a party withdraws from a contract or declines to honour a promise. In a more literal or literary sense, it means recoiling, retreating, or springing back to an earlier position or shape. The word is encountered chiefly in legal, political, and formal writing rather than everyday conversation. Its unusual vocabulary reflects the history of its base verb: resile comes from a Latin word meaning “to leap back.” Related English words include resilience and resilient, which emphasize the ability to recover after difficulty or pressure. Although resiling can sometimes suggest an abrupt or blameworthy retreat in contractual contexts, its meaning depends on the wider situation and is not inherently negative.
verbResiling is the present participle of resile, meaning to withdraw from or abandon an agreement, commitment, or claim, or to recoil or return by rebound.
- To withdraw from an agreement, commitment, or position.
- To recoil, retreat, or return by rebound.
"The tenant was accused of resiling from the lease before the hearing."
"The supplier was resiling from the contract without giving the required notice."
"The compressed spring was slowly resiling to its original shape."
The word preserves an image of leaping backward: Latin resilire literally meant “to leap back.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of resiling
The word derives from Latin resilire, formed from re-, meaning “back,” and salire, meaning “to leap.” In Latin the verb could mean “to leap back” or “to withdraw,” and the latter sense developed into modern legal usage concerning withdrawal from an agreement. English borrowed the word in the early modern period, while resilient and resilience belong to the same Latin family of meanings.
Related word forms
How resiling is actually used
Resiling is formal and is especially common in legal or contractual contexts. It is somewhat literary in other senses and should not be confused with the unrelated verb resell.
Easily confused with resiling
Resiling means withdrawing, retreating, or recoiling, whereas reselling means selling something again.
Resiling means withdrawing from a commitment, whereas relying means depending on someone or something.