■ verb
1》 settle or find a solution to.
↘ Medicine cause (a symptom or condition) to heal or disappear.
2》 decide firmly on a course of action.
↘(of a legislative body) take a decision by a formal vote.
3》 Music cause (a discord) to pass into a concord during the course of harmonic change.
4》 ( ~ something into ) reduce a subject or statement by mental analysis into (separate elements or a more elementary form).
↘ chiefly Chemistry separate into constituent parts or components.
5》 (of something seen at a distance) turn into a different form when seen more clearly.
↘(of optical or photographic equipment) separate or distinguish between (closely adjacent objects).
↘ technical separately distinguish (peaks in a graph or spectrum).
6》 Physics analyse (a force or velocity) into components acting in particular directions.
■ noun
1》 firm determination.
2》 US a formal resolution by a legislative body or public meeting.
Derivatives
resolvability noun
resolvable adjective
~d adjective
~dly adverb
~r noun
Origin
ME (in the senses 'dissolve, disintegrate' and 'solve a problem'): from L. ~re , from re- (expressing intensive force) + solvere 'loosen'.