resigned

adjective

re·​signed ri-ˈzīnd 

: feeling or showing acceptance that something unwanted or unpleasant will happen or cannot be changed

a resigned sigh

They had the resigned manners of long-term detainees.

—Jonathan Raban

—often used with to

He was fifty-seven years old and resigned to the fact that the rest of his days would be spent in convenient bachelorhood …

—James A. Michener

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the cold ground.

—Edna St. Vincent Millay

… Mr. Ogata is resigned to his life rather than contented.

—James Sterngold

resignedly

ri-ˈzī-nəd-lē 

adverb

With a gleam in his eye and a twinkle in his lens, he seems to tell us sweetly, sadly, rather resignedly that a little absurdity, a bit of imbalance is about what we should expect from life.

—Vicki Goldberg

Synonyms

• acquiescent
• nonresistant
• passive
• tolerant
• tolerating
• unresistant
• yielding

Examples of resigned in a Sentence

I am resigned to the fact that I'll never make the list of the 400 richest Americans

Recent Examples on the Web

Crowds gathering for the Royal Horticultural Society’s Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival on the sprawling palace grounds reached into backpacks for umbrellas with the resigned look of people attending a supremely English occasion designed to be held in sunshine. —Sophie Elmhirst, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2024

The second-year Chicago Bears cornerback let out a resigned sigh and laugh. —Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2024

There are the resigned glances of terminal patients in hospice. —Joshua Rothkopf, Los Angeles Times, 29 June 2024

Those movies thrived on human absurdity, yet their characters spoke in a bored monotone, regarding the strange circumstances of their lives with resigned terror. —David Sims, The Atlantic, 21 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1699, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing resigned

• be resigned to
• was resigned to the fact

Kids Definition

resigned

adjective

re·​signed

ri-ˈzīnd

: giving in patiently (as to loss, sorrow, or misfortune)

resignedly

-ˈzī-nəd-lē

adverb

resignedness

-ˈzī-nəd-nəs

noun