Resignation

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌɹɛz.ɪɡˈneɪ.ʃən/

Definitions

1. A formal act of giving up a position or office, or the patient acceptance of something undesirable but inevitable
2. the act of formally relinquishing an office or position, or the calm acceptance of unavoidable circumstances
3. formally stepping down from a role or post, or stoically accepting something unpleasant that cannot be changed

Etymology: The sense of "giving up a position" is the one that grew out of a much older idea of handing something back. "Resign" comes from Latin "resignare," meaning to unseal, cancel or give back, built from "re-" (back) and "signare" (to mark or seal). To resign something was, literally, to break its seal and return it. The noun "resignation" took shape in Medieval Latin as "resignatio," and passed through Old French into Middle English as "resignacion." The English word first carried the sense of yielding to something: accepting a sad fate or a higher will, as when a person submits to God's decree. This meaning of calm submission remains alive in phrases like "resignation to fate," and it sits right alongside the later, more practical sense of formally leaving a job or office. Both come from the same act of giving something back, whether one's will or one's post.

Synonyms: acceptance, submission, surrender

Antonyms: refusal, resistance