English Reference
noun · adjective

resident

n. · adj.
US /ˈɹɛzɪdənt/ UK /ɹˈɛzɪdənt/ res·i·dent UK spelling resident's, resident's

  1. 01 B1 Intermediate

    n.someone who lives in a particular house, apartment, or area.

    n.a person who inhabits a specific dwelling or locality on a permanent or long-term basis.

    Simple

    The local residents are unhappy about the new noisy construction project.

    In context

    The city council invited residents of the affected neighbourhood to a public forum to discuss the proposed zoning changes.

  2. 02 B2 Upper Intermediate Medicine

    n.a doctor who has finished medical school and is getting advanced training in a hospital.

    n.a physician who has completed medical school and is undergoing specialised postgraduate training in a clinical setting.

    Simple

    The resident checked on the patient every two hours during the night.

    In context

    After completing her internship, she secured a position as a surgical resident at one of the country's leading teaching hospitals.

    trainee doctor
  3. 03 B2 Upper Intermediate

    adj.living or working in a specific place for a long time.

    adj.dwelling or staying in a place for a continued period; often used to describe staff who live where they work.

    Simple

    The hotel has a resident pianist who plays in the lobby every evening.

    In context

    The university's resident experts were called upon to provide testimony during the environmental impact hearing.

    locallive in
  4. 04 C1 Advanced Technical Computing

    adj.describes a computer program that stays in the computer's active memory (RAM) so it is always ready.

    adj.referring to software or data that remains permanently or semi-permanently in a computer's random-access memory.

    Simple

    The antivirus software is memory-resident to protect the system in real time.

    In context

    The operating system manages resident programs to ensure that critical background tasks do not exhaust the available physical memory.

Usage resident doctor · resident doctors · residents fled

Meanwhile, tourists and residents also fled villages in northern Greece’s Halkidiki region on Thursday after strong winds fanned a wildfire, engulfing houses and trees near a resort during the heart of the holiday season.

Al Jazeera· 14 Aug 2026

Mark Edwards was contacted by the council after a Tonyrefail resident complained about the van's music being played in the evening.

BBC News· 14 Aug 2026

From Middle English resident, from Anglo-Norman resident, from Latin residēns, present participle of resideō (“to remain behind, reside, dwell”), equivalent to reside + -ent, from re- (“back”) + sedeō (“to sit”). Doublet of resiant and rezident. The espionage sense is a semantic loan from Russian резиде́нт (rezidént). (physician): So called because in the 19th century they resided in the hospital dormitories.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin Latin residēns
Level B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency Common
Updated