resolving

Pluralresolvings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of resolve.

   The team kept resolving small bugs until the software ran smoothly.

   Resolving the legal questions required several lengthy meetings.

   Note

   This form carries every meaning of the verb, from settling a problem to breaking something down into its parts. With an object it means solving, clarifying or settling, as in resolving the questions or resolving a dispute. Without an object it usually means deciding, and a to-infinitive follows: resolving to leave early. Once it can take a plural, as in the noun for making resolutions, it has become a noun.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of forming a firm resolution or settled determination to do something.

   The resolving of long-standing grievances marked a turning point for the whole family.

   Her quiet resolving to finish the degree carried her through several hard years.

   Similarresolution, determination, commitment

   Oppositeindecision

   Note

   As a count noun it treats each act of resolve as a separate thing, and it tends to appear alongside other -ing nouns. John Bunyan's Grace Abounding (1666) laments "thoughts, and wishings, and resolvings" that came too late. Ann Ree Colton's The soul and the ethic (1965) warns of "wrong resolvings and concludings." Both are spiritual writing about the inner life, which is where the plural sits most naturally.

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