resident

UK: /ˈrɛzɪdənt/ US: /ˈrɛzɪdənt/ ,(rez′i dənt)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

res•i•dent /ˈrɛzɪdənt/   n. [countable]

1. a person who lives in a place:
   living as a foreign resident in the Czech Republic.
2. a physician working in a hospital while receiving specialized training there.

adj. [before a noun]

3. residing;
   dwelling in a place:
   a resident alien in Canada.
4. living or staying at a place as part of one's official duty.
5. (of qualities or abilities) existing as if attached to a situation or place:
   [before a noun] She is the resident expert in computers.
6. Computing (of a computer program) currently active, standing by, or available in computer memory:
   Your printer program is now resident.

See -sid-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

res•i•dent  (rez′i dənt), n. 

1. a person who resides in a place.
2. a physician who joins the medical staff of a hospital as a salaried employee for a specified period to gain advanced training usually in a particular field, being in full-time attendance at the hospital and often living on the premises.
3. Government a diplomatic representative, inferior in rank to an ambassador, residing at a foreign court.
4. World History (formerly) a representative of the British governor general at a native court in India.
5. World History (formerly) the governor of a residency in the Dutch East Indies.

adj. 

6. residing;
   dwelling in a place.
7. living or staying at a place in discharge of duty.
8. (of qualities) existing;
   intrinsic.
9. (of birds) not migratory.
10. Computing
    • encoded and permanently available to a computer user, as a font in a printer's ROM or software on a CD-ROM.
    • (of a computer program) currently active or standing by in computer memory.

• Latin resident- (stem of residēns), present participle of residēre to reside; see -ent
• Middle English 1350–1400

res′i•dent•ship′, n. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

resident / ˈrɛzɪdənt/ noun

1. a person who resides in a place
2. (esp formerly) a representative of the British government in a British protectorate
3. (in India, formerly) a representative of the British governor general at the court of a native prince
4. a bird or other animal that does not migrate
5. a physician who lives in the hospital where he or she works while undergoing specialist training after completing his or her internship
6. a junior doctor, esp a house officer, who lives in the hospital in which he or she works

adjective

1. living in a place; residing
2. living or staying at a place in order to discharge a duty, etc
3. (of qualities, characteristics, etc) existing or inherent (in)
4. (of birds and other animals) not in the habit of migrating

ˈresidentˌship noun