resign

See also: re-sign

English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman resigner, Middle French resigner, and its source, Latin resignāre (“to unseal, annul, assign, resign”), from re- + signāre (“to seal, stamp”).

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈzaɪn/
Audio (UK) (file)
Rhymes: -aɪn

Verb

resign (third-person singular simple present resigns, present participle resigning, simple past and past participle resigned)

(transitive) To give up; to relinquish ownership of. [from 14th c.]
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 39, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
  And if the perfection of well-speaking might bring any glorie sutable unto a great personage, Scipio and Lelius would never have resigned the honour of their Comedies […] unto an Affrican servant […].
(transitive) To hand over (something to someone), place into the care or control of another.
(transitive or intransitive) To quit (a job or position). [from 14th c.]
I am resigning in protest of the unfair treatment of our employees.
He resigned the crown to follow his heart.
- 1974 August 8, Nixon, Richard, Richard Nixon's resignation speech‎, CBSN, 2:30 from the start:
  To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home. Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.
(transitive) To submit passively; to give up as hopeless or inevitable. [from 15th c.]
He had no choice but to resign the game and let his opponent become the champion.
- 1996, Robin Buss, The Count of Monte Cristo, translation of, Alexandre Dumas, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, 2003 Penguin edition, →ISBN, page 394 :
  Here is a man who was resigned to his fate, who was walking to the scaffold and about to die like a coward, that's true, but at least he was about to die without resisting and without recrimination. Do you know what gave him that much strength? Do you know what consoled him? Do you know what resigned him to his fate?

Synonyms

quit

Derived terms

resignation
resign oneself

Translations

to give something up or relinquish

Bulgarian: отказвам се (otkazvam se)
Burmese: အောချ (my) (au:hkya.)
Finnish: luovuttaa (fi)
Hungarian: lemond (hu), felad (hu)
Icelandic: gefa upp, gefa upp á bátinn, falla frá, afsala sér, láta, láta af hendi
Italian: rassegnare (it), rinunciare (it)
Maori: tuku
Slovak: vzdať sa, vzdávať sa
Thai: ล้มเลิก (lóm-lə̂ək), เลิกล้ม

hand over, give over (to someone)

Bulgarian: предавам (bg) (predavam), предоставям (bg) (predostavjam)
Hungarian: átad (hu), átenged (hu)

quit a job or position

Arabic: اِسْتَقَالَ‎ (istaqāla)
Egyptian Arabic: استعفى‎ (istaʿfa)
Armenian: հրաժարական տալ (hražarakan tal)
Bulgarian: подавам оставка (podavam ostavka)
Burmese: နုတ်ထွက် (my) (nuthtwak)
Catalan: dimitir (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 辭職／辞职 (zh) (cízhí), 辭去／辞去 (zh) (cíqù)
Czech: odstoupit, rezignovat
Dutch: ontslag nemen
Esperanto: rezigni, demisii
Finnish: erota (fi)
French: démissionner (fr)
Georgian: უარის თქმა (uaris tkma)
German: zurücktreten (de), kündigen (de)
Greek: παραιτούμαι (el) (paraitoúmai)
Ancient: ἀπεῖπον (apeîpon), παρίημι (paríēmi)
Hebrew: התפטר‎ (he) (hitpatér)
Hindi: पदत्याग (hi) m (padatyāg)
Hungarian: lemond (hu), leköszön (hu)
Icelandic: segja upp, segja af sér, láta af, draga sig í hlé (imprecise, somewhat euphemistic)
Irish: éirigh as
Italian: dimettersi (it), lasciare (it)
Japanese: 辞任する (ja) (jinin suru), 辞職する (ja) (jishoku suru), 辞める (ja) (yameru)
Khmer: លាឈប់ (liə chup)
Korean: 사임하다 (ko) (saim-hada)
Lao: ລາການ (lā kān), ລາອອກ (lā ʼǭk)
Latin: abdicō (la)
Lithuanian: atsistatydinti
Malay: meletak jawatan
Maori: rīhaina
Mongolian: огцрох (mn) (ogcrox)
Norwegian: gå av, si opp (no)
Occitan: demissionar (oc)
Portuguese: demitir-se, desligar-se (pt), renunciar (pt)
Romanian: demisiona (ro)
Russian: отка́зываться от до́лжности impf (otkázyvatʹsja ot dólžnosti), уходи́ть в отста́вку impf (uxodítʹ v otstávku), бро́сить рабо́ту pf (brósitʹ rabótu), увольня́ться (ru) impf (uvolʹnjátʹsja), уво́литься (ru) pf (uvólitʹsja)
Shan: ၼုၵ်ႈဢွၵ်ႇ (nūk ʼàuk)
Slovak: rezignovať, odstúpiť
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: gódy wześ
Spanish: renunciar (es), dimitir (es)
Swedish: avgå (sv), sluta (sv)
Thai: ลาออก (th) (laa-ɔ̀ɔk)
Turkish: istifa etmek (tr)
Ukrainian: іти́ у відста́вку impf (itý u vidstávku), піти́ у відста́вку pf (pitý u vidstávku)
Vietnamese: từ chức (vi)
Welsh: ymddiswyddo (cy), rhoi'r gorau

to give up

Esperanto: rezignacii
Finnish: luovuttaa (fi)
French: se résigner (fr), se faire une raison (fr)
Hungarian: belenyugszik (hu), beletörődik, felad (hu)
Italian: rassegnarsi (it), rinunciare (it), darla su
Korean: 포기하다 (ko) (pogi-hada)
Norwegian: gi opp (no), resignere
Portuguese: resignar (pt)
Slovak: rezignovať, vzdať sa, vzdávať sa
Spanish: resignarse (es), renunciar (es)
Swedish: resignera (sv)

Etymology 2

re- +‎ sign

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɹiːˈsaɪn/

Verb

resign (third-person singular simple present resigns, present participle resigning, simple past and past participle resigned)

(proscribed) Alternative spelling of re-sign
- 2020, Kevin McCarthy, mutt 2.0.0 released, mutt-announce mailing list, November 7 2020
  Lastly, a note that I have resigned my GPG key to extend the expiration date.

Usage notes

The spelling without the hyphen results in a heteronym and is usually avoided.

Anagrams

Greins, Negris, Singer, nigres, re-nigs, reigns, renigs, resing, ringes, signer, singer