What does "resort" mean?
A place where people go for recreation, especially one with facilities such as lodgings, entertainment, and a relaxing environment.
Resort
/ɹɪˈzɔːt/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A place where people go for recreation, especially one with facilities such as lodgings, entertainment, and a relaxing environment.
- Grammar: resort is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: holiday resort, recourse, abiding-place, ability.
- Useful contrasts: campsites, city lodging, continue.
- Usage evidence: If you don't listen to us, we will have to resort to coercion.
How to use "resort"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "resort" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "resort" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "resort" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "resort" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "resort" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "holiday resort" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "resort", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A place where people go for recreation, especially one with facilities such as lodgings, entertainment, and a relaxing environment.
"Was it deliberate that the first week of October 1961 was chosen to conduct a national survey of passenger usage? Why October of all months, when the holiday season was over and families back at work and at school? Was this a fiddling of the figures to make an unfair case against rail-dependent resorts such as those in the West Country, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire, where previously overloaded summer services would now only have a handful of locals on board?"
- 2 Alternative spelling of re-sort. alt-of, alternative
""If further sorting is required, begin anew with opcode = 0. opcode = -3 may be set to build an index file following an initial sort with opcode set to 0, or a resort with opcode set to -1."
- 3 Active power or movement; spring. obsolete
"Some […] know the resorts and falls of business that cannot sink into the main of it."
- 4 act of turning to for assistance wordnet
- 5 Recourse, refuge (something or someone turned to for safety).
"to have resort to violence"
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 something or someone turned to for assistance or security wordnet
- 7 A place where one goes habitually; a haunt. obsolete
"Far from all reſort of mirth,"
- 8 a frequently visited place wordnet
- 9 A subdivision of Suriname; a division of the country's districts.
- 10 a hotel located in a resort area wordnet
Verb
- 1 To have recourse (to), now especially from necessity or frustration. intransitive
"The king thought it time to resort to other counsels."
- 2 Alternative spelling of re-sort (which is the preferred spelling, to avoid needless homography) alt-of, alternative, intransitive, transitive
- 3 move, travel, or proceed toward some place wordnet
- 4 To fall back; to revert. intransitive
"But the Inheritance of the Son never reſorted to the Mother, or to any of her Anceſtors, but both ſhe and they were totally excluded from the Succeſſion."
- 5 have recourse to wordnet
Show 1 more definition
- 6 To make one's way, go (to). intransitive
"The same daye went Jesus out off the housse, and sat by the seesyde, and moch people resorted unto him, so gretly that he went and sat in a shyppe, and all the people stode on the shoore."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"If you don't listen to us, we will have to resort to coercion."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "resort"?
Common synonyms include: holiday resort, recourse, abiding-place, ability, action, ad hoc measure.
How do you use "resort" in a sentence?
If you don't listen to us, we will have to resort to coercion.
How do you pronounce "resort"?
Pronounced /ɹɪˈzɔːt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English resorten, from Old French resortir (“to fall back, return, resort, have recourse, appeal”), back-formation from sortir (“to go out”).
Etymology 2
From re- + sort.
Etymology 3
From French ressort.