result
Pluralresults
Verbresults, resulting, resulted
Pluralresults
Formsresults, resulting, resulted
- 1The conclusion or effect that a course of events leads to, or that is obtained by a process or operation; a consequence.
The result of years of neglect was a crumbling bridge.
Scientists study how small changes produce large results over time.
UsageThe result of something; as a result points back to a cause already named, as a result of + a noun names it.
Similarconsequence, outcome, effect, upshot, product
Oppositecause
- 2To happen as a consequence of something (result from), or to cause a particular outcome (result in).
Poor planning can result in delays and wasted money.
The negotiations resulted in a lasting agreement between the two sides.
UsageCause + result in + effect: planning results in delays. Effect + result from + cause: delays result from poor planning.
- 3The outcome produced by a test, study, poll, search, calculation or exam, in the form of findings, figures or an answer.
The researchers plan to publish their results in a medical journal next spring.
Typing her full name into the database returned only one result.
UsageUsually plural for findings: your test results, the results show. One result is a single item, such as a search hit.
- 4A good outcome achieved through effort, such as a success in business or a win in a game; often plural (get results).
"We didn't play our best today, but we got the result, and that's all that matters," the coach said.
The new manager promised results, and within a year the struggling store was turning a profit.
UsageOften get results or get the result; on its own it already means a good outcome.
- 5The final score recorded at the end of a sports game or match.
The result stood after the referee reviewed the final play.
Weekend results moved the team into first place.
Similarscore
Note
Sports writing uses the word for the final score and for what that score means for a team. When a 2011 BBC Sport report says "this result helps lift the pressure," the score matters for its consequences. The plural often means a whole round of games: George Goodchild's 1935 sports fan wants to "hear all the results over the wireless." Compare the "good outcome" meaning, where a result is already a good one.
Less common meanings
- 6An exclamation of joy expressed after a favorable outcome.
Result! The train was delayed just long enough for us to catch it.
He saw the final score flash up and shouted, 'Result!'
UsageA casual cheer, often after Yes!, as in Yes! Result!; listeners elsewhere may be puzzled by it.
Similaryes
Note
A British cheer, typically paired with Yes!, as in "Yes! Result!" in Jane Owen's Camden girls (1997) and "Yes! Result, Nick!" in Lissa Evans's Spencer's List (2002). It grows out of the "good outcome" noun, and here the bare word carries the good news all by itself. Get in is a close match.
- 7To leap back, or to rebound.
the huge round stone, resulting with a bound
1725, Homer, The Odyssey of HomerNote
The literal sense sits closest to the Latin. Resultare meant "to spring forward, rebound," and it was built from re- ("back") and salio ("to leap"). Pope's translation of The Odyssey (1725) still has "the huge round stone, resulting with a bound." Modern English says rebound or spring back instead. Use result this way today and readers will take it to mean "cause" or "follow."
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Latin resultare meant to spring forward or rebound. en.wiktionary.org
- The word ultimately derives from re-, meaning back, and salio, meaning leap, through resilio. en.wiktionary.org
- The Odyssey translation conventionally credited to Alexander Pope contains the quoted line. gutenberg.org
- The translation first began publication in 1725; publication continued into 1726. en.wikipedia.org
- The quotation reproduces a line in Book XI of that translation. gutenberg.org
- 8A flying or springing back; a rebound.
Sound is produced between the string and the air by the return or the result of the string.
1627, Francis [Bacon], Sylua SyluarumNote
Here the word keeps the physical leap it was built from. Latin resultare meant "to spring forward, rebound," from re- "back" and salio "to jump, leap." Francis Bacon, in 1627, explains sound as made by "the return or the result of the string." The sense is long obsolete, and a modern reader will hear "outcome." Use it only when quoting or deliberately imitating older prose. It pairs with the verb meaning "rebound".
- 9The decision that a council or deliberative assembly arrives at; a resolution or decree.
Then of their session ended they bid cry / With trumpet's regal sound the great result.
1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost - 10To return to the proprietor or their heirs following a reversion.
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Origin
Recorded since 1432 as Middle English resulten, from Medieval Latin resultare, which in Classical Latin meant "to spring forward, rebound." It is built from re- ("back") and salio ("to jump, leap").
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Result is recorded since 1432 as Middle English resulten, from Medieval Latin resultare. en.wiktionary.org
- Classical Latin resultare meant “to spring forward, rebound.” en.wiktionary.org
- Its ultimate components are re- (“back”) and salio (“to jump, leap”). en.wiktionary.org