Meanings
resign1
present singular third person resigns · participle present resigning · participle past resigned · past resigned · first person past singular resigned · archaic present second person singular resignest · past second person singular resigned · archaic past second person singular resignedst · present singular third person resigns · archaic present singular third person resigneth · past singular third person resigned · past plural resigned · past subjunctive resigned · participle present resigning · participle past resigned
- transitiveTo give up; to relinquish ownership of.First known use 14th c.
And if the perfection of well-speaking might bring any glorie sutable unto a great personage, Scipio and Lelius would never have resigned the honour of their Comedies[…]unto an Affrican servant[…].
1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 39, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC - transitiveTo hand over (something to someone), place into the care or control of another.
- intransitivetransitiveTo voluntarily leave (a job or position), in particular a hard-fought position of high status.First known use 14th c.
He resigned the crown to follow his heart.
2 more examples
I am resigning in protest of the unfair treatment of our employees.
To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home. Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.
1974 August 8, Richard Nixon, 2:30 from the start, in Richard Nixon's resignation speech, CBSNSynonyms: vacate
- transitiveTo submit passively; to give up as hopeless or inevitable.First known use 15th c.
He had no choice but to resign the game and let his opponent become the champion.
1 more example
Here is a man who was resigned to his fate, who was walking to the scaffold and about to die like a coward, that's true, but at least he was about to die without resisting and without recrimination. Do you know what gave him that much strength? Do you know what consoled him? Do you know what resigned him to his fate?
1996, Robin Buss, The Count of Monte Cristo, translation of, Alexandre Dumas, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, 2003 Penguin edition, page 394 http://books.google.com/books?id=QAa5l_8DNbcC&pg=PA394&dq=fate
resign2
present singular third person resigns · participle present resigning · participle past resigned · past resigned
- alternativeproscribedAlternative spelling of re-sign.
Lastly, a note that I have resigned my GPG key to extend the expiration date.
2020, Kevin McCarthy, mutt 2.0.0 released, mutt-announce mailing list, November 7 2020
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo voluntarily leave (a job or position), in particular a hard-fought position of high status.
More synonyms by meaning
verbleave (a job, post, or position) voluntarily
verbgive up or retire from a position
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
resign · verb
- Latinresignāre“to unseal, annul, assign, resign”
- Middle Frenchresigner
- Anglo-Normanresigner
- Englishresign
From Anglo-Norman resigner, Middle French resigner, and its source, Latin resignāre (“to unseal, annul, assign, resign”), from re- + signāre (“to seal, stamp”). Piecewise doublet of re-sign.
More words from Anglo-Norman, Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →resign · verb
- Proto-Italic*wre-
- Latinre-
- Old Frenchre-
- Middle Englishre-
- Englishre-
- Englishsign
- Englishresign
Translations
Ancient Greek ἀπεῖπον, παρίημι
- ἀπεῖπον (apeîpon)quit a job or position
- παρίημι (paríēmi)quit a job or position
Arabic اِسْتَقَالَ
- اِسْتَقَالَ (istaqāla)quit a job or position
Bulgarian отказвам се, предавам
- отказвам се (otkazvam se)to give something up or relinquish
- предавам (predavam)hand over, give over (to someone)
- предоставям (predostavjam)hand over, give over (to someone)
- подавам оставка (podavam ostavka)quit a job or position
Catalan dimitir
- dimitirquit a job or position
Chinese Mandarin 认输, 辭職 /辞职
- 认输 (rènshū)to give up
- 辭職 /辞职 (cízhí)quit a job or position
- 辭去 /辞去 (cíqù)quit a job or position
Czech odstoupit, rezignovat
- odstoupitquit a job or position
- rezignovatquit a job or position
Dutch ontslag nemen
- ontslag nemenquit a job or position
Esperanto rezignacii, rezigni
- rezignaciito give up
- rezigniquit a job or position
- demisiiquit a job or position
Finnish luovuttaa, luovuttaa
- luovuttaato give something up or relinquish
- luovuttaato give up
- erotaquit a job or position
French abandonner, céder
- abandonnerto give something up or relinquish
- céderto give something up or relinquish
- se résignerto give up
- se faire une raisonto give up
- renoncerto give up
- léguerhand over, give over (to someone)
- démissionnerquit a job or position
- abdiquerquit a job or position
German zurücktreten, kündigen
- zurücktretenquit a job or position
- kündigenquit a job or position
Greek παραιτούμαι
- παραιτούμαι (paraitoúmai)quit a job or position
Hebrew התפטר
- התפטר (hitpatér)quit a job or position
Hindi पदत्याग
- पदत्याग (padatyāg)quit a job or position
Hungarian lemond, felad
- lemondto give something up or relinquish
- feladto give something up or relinquish
- belenyugszikto give up
- beletörődikto give up
- feladto give up
- átadhand over, give over (to someone)
- átengedhand over, give over (to someone)
- lemondquit a job or position
- leköszönquit a job or position
Icelandic gefa upp, gefa upp á bátinn
- gefa uppto give something up or relinquish
- gefa upp á bátinnto give something up or relinquish
- falla fráto give something up or relinquish
- afsala sérto give something up or relinquish
- látato give something up or relinquish
- láta af hendito give something up or relinquish
- segja uppquit a job or position
- segja af sérquit a job or position
- láta afquit a job or position
- draga sig í hléquit a job or position
Irish éirigh as
- éirigh asquit a job or position
Italian rassegnare, rinunciare
- rassegnareto give something up or relinquish
- rinunciareto give something up or relinquish
- rassegnarsito give up
- rinunciareto give up
- darla suto give up
- dimettersiquit a job or position
- dare le dimissioniquit a job or position
- lasciarequit a job or position
Japanese 辞任する, 辞職する
- 辞任する (jinin suru)quit a job or position
- 辞職する (jishoku suru)quit a job or position
- 辞める (yameru)quit a job or position
Korean 포기하다, 사임하다
- 포기하다 (pogi-hada)to give up
- 사임하다 (saim-hada)quit a job or position
Latin abdicō
- abdicōquit a job or position
Lithuanian atsistatydinti
- atsistatydintiquit a job or position
Malay meletak jawatan
- meletak jawatanquit a job or position
Māori tuku, rīhaina
- tukuto give something up or relinquish
- rīhainaquit a job or position
Norwegian gi opp, resignere
- gi oppto give up
- resignereto give up
- gå avquit a job or position
- si oppquit a job or position
Polish rezygnować, zrezygnować
- rezygnowaćquit a job or position
- zrezygnowaćquit a job or position
Portuguese resignar, demitir-se
- resignarto give up
- demitir-sequit a job or position
- desligar-sequit a job or position
- renunciarquit a job or position
Romanian demisiona
- demisionaquit a job or position
Russian отка́зываться от до́лжности, уходи́ть в отста́вку
- отка́зываться от до́лжности (otkázyvatʹsja ot dólžnosti)quit a job or position
- уходи́ть в отста́вку (uxodítʹ v otstávku)quit a job or position
- бро́сить рабо́ту (brósitʹ rabótu)quit a job or position
- увольня́ться (uvolʹnjátʹsja)quit a job or position
- уво́литься (uvólitʹsja)quit a job or position
Slovak vzdať sa, vzdávať sa
- vzdať sato give something up or relinquish
- vzdávať sato give something up or relinquish
- rezignovaťto give up
- vzdať sato give up
- vzdávať sato give up
- rezignovaťquit a job or position
- odstúpiťquit a job or position
Spanish resignarse, renunciar
- resignarseto give up
- renunciarto give up
- renunciarquit a job or position
- dimitirquit a job or position
Swedish resignera, avgå
- resignerato give up
- avgåquit a job or position
- slutaquit a job or position
Thai ล้มเลิก, เลิกล้ม
- ล้มเลิก (lóm-lə̂ək)to give something up or relinquish
- เลิกล้ม (lə̂ək-lóm)to give something up or relinquish
- ลาออก (laa-ɔ̀ɔk)quit a job or position
Turkish istifa etmek
- istifa etmekquit a job or position
Ukrainian іти́ у відста́вку, піти́ у відста́вку
- іти́ у відста́вку (itý u vidstávku)quit a job or position
- піти́ у відста́вку (pitý u vidstávku)quit a job or position
Urdu استعفا دینا
- استعفا دینا (isti'fā denā)quit a job or position
Vietnamese từ chức
- từ chứcquit a job or position
Welsh ymddiswyddo, rhoi'r gorau
- ymddiswyddoquit a job or position
- rhoi'r gorauquit a job or position
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with resign
Anagrams
Cite this entry
resign. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/resign
“resign.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/resign. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “resign,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/resign.
Source: resign on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.