Standard Lemma guide

resourcefulness

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • CMU ARPABET: R IY0 S AO1 R S F AH0 L N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The ability to cope with difficult situations, or unusual problems.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the quality of being able to cope with a difficult situation

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a man of great resourcefulness

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: resource

3

noun

Meaning 3

the ability to deal resourcefully with unusual problems

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a man of resource

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: resource, imagination

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: inventiveness, ingeniousness, ingenuity, cleverness

Narrower terms: armory, armoury, inventory

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English resourceful Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English resourcefulness From resourceful + -ness.

Across languages

Translations

26 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: vindingrykheid — the ability to cope with situations
  • Dutch: vindingrijkheid — the ability to cope with situations
  • Esperanto: inventemo — the ability to cope with situations
  • Finnish: neuvokkuus — the ability to cope with situations
  • French: débrouillardise — the ability to cope with situations
  • German: Einfallsreichtum — the ability to cope with situations
  • German: Findigkeit — the ability to cope with situations
  • German: Genialität — the ability to cope with situations
  • Greek: ευρηματικότητα (evrimatikótita) — the ability to cope with situations
  • Greek: επινοητικότητα (epinoïtikótita) — the ability to cope with situations
  • Hebrew: תושייה — the ability to cope with situations
  • Italian: ingegnosità — the ability to cope with situations
  • Latin: ingeniositas — the ability to cope with situations
  • Macedonian: снаодливост (snaodlivost) — the ability to cope with situations
  • Macedonian: досетливост (dosetlivost) — the ability to cope with situations
  • Norwegian Bokmål: oppfinnsomhet — the ability to cope with situations
  • Polish: zaradność — the ability to cope with situations
  • Portuguese: engenhosidade — the ability to cope with situations
  • Russian: нахо́дчивость (naxódčivostʹ) — the ability to cope with situations
  • Russian: изобрета́тельность (izobretátelʹnostʹ) — the ability to cope with situations
  • Russian: изворо́тливость (izvorótlivostʹ) — the ability to cope with situations
  • Slovak: vynaliezavosť — the ability to cope with situations
  • Spanish: ingenio — the ability to cope with situations
  • Spanish: inventiva — the ability to cope with situations
  • Turkish: beceriklilik — the ability to cope with situations
  • Turkish: cerbeze — the ability to cope with situations