resign
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to officially tell your employer that you are leaving your job.
to voluntarily leave a position of employment or office, typically by formal notification.
Simple“The manager decided to resign from the company to spend more time with his family.”
In context“After the scandal became public, the CEO was forced to resign from the board to protect the firm's remaining reputation.”
UsageOften used with the preposition 'from' when mentioning the organisation.
PitfallHe resigned his job yesterday. He resigned from his job yesterday.While you can 'resign a position', it is much more common to 'resign from' a job or company.
- 02 C1 Advanced
to accept that something unpleasant is going to happen because you cannot change it.
to accept something as inevitable or to submit passively to a situation.
Simple“She had to resign herself to the fact that the holiday was cancelled.”
In context“The exhausted soldiers eventually resigned themselves to their fate, realizing that no reinforcements would arrive before nightfall.”
UsageCommonly used in the reflexive form 'resign oneself to'.
- 03 C2 Proficiency
to give up a right, a claim, or control over something.
to relinquish or hand over a right, power, or possession to another party.
Simple“The king was forced to resign his claim to the throne.”
In context“Under the terms of the treaty, the occupied territory was resigned to the neighbouring state without further conflict.”
UsageTakes a direct object representing the thing being given up.
Synonyms
“As the president walked away, Matthews continued: “Why won’t you resign?”
“Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Professor of Black Studies Kehinde Andrews and friend of Arday described him as "very down" after resigning from Cambridge.”
From Anglo-Norman resigner, Middle French resigner, and its source, Latin resignāre (“to unseal, annul, assign, resign”), from re- + signāre (“to seal, stamp”). Piecewise doublet of re-sign.
From re- + sign.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.