Resident
adj, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A person, animal or plant living at a certain location or in a certain area.
"The tiger is a resident of the Lower Amoor, and ranges as high as 53° north latitude. In winter he roams through the same forests with the reindeer, and occasionally dines upon venison of his own catching."
- 2 a physician (especially an intern) who lives in a hospital and cares for hospitalized patients under the supervision of the medical staff of the hospital wordnet
- 3 A bird which does not migrate during the course of the year.
- 4 someone who lives at a particular place for a prolonged period or who was born there wordnet
- 5 A physician receiving postgraduate medical training in a hospital or clinic.
"She's a resident in neurosurgery at Mass General."
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- 6 A diplomatic representative who resides in a foreign country, usually of inferior rank to an ambassador.
- 7 A legal permanent resident, someone who maintains residency.
- 8 Alternative form of rezident. alt-of, alternative
- 1 Dwelling, or having an abode, in a place for a continued length of time; residing on one's own estate.
"resident in the city or in the country"
- 2 Based in a particular place; on hand; local.
"He is our resident computer expert."
- 3 Fixed; stable; certain. obsolete
"stable and resident like a rock"
- 4 Currently loaded into RAM; contrasted with virtual memory.
- 1 living in a particular place wordnet
- 2 used of animals that do not migrate wordnet
Example
More examples"What does "resident alien" mean?"
Etymology
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 (“I 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.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.