resort
/rɪˈzɔːt
/noun
1A place that is frequented for holidays or recreation or for a particular purpose: a seaside resort a health resort...
- Last year the company reported that more than 20000 holidaymakers filled 15 resorts in the province.
- Package holidays to the best resorts and chalets - especially those including childcare - are selling fast.
- The Marine Conservation Society is urging holidaymakers at resorts to report their jellyfish encounters - and exercise caution.
Synonyms
holiday destination, holiday centre, tourist centre, centre, spot, retreat, haunt;
spa, watering place
informal tourist trap, honeypot
1.1 [mass noun] archaic The tendency of a place to be frequented by many people: places of public resort...
- The town is only in its infancy as a place of public resort, and, therefore, possesses few public buildings deserving of notice, the principal occupation having been to build houses and new streets, for the accommodation of new residents.
- According to the argument on the other side, streets leading to places of public resort are unprotected.
- In the earliest days the city gate is mentioned as the place of public resort, where people met for business and to discuss news.
2 [mass noun] The action of resorting to a course of action in a difficult situation: Germany and Italy tried to resolve their economic and social failures by resort to fascism workers may regard an all-out strike as a measure of last resort...
- Landowners, however, stressed the importance of powers of last resort to enable the police to arrest individuals who acted irresponsibly.
- The money raised would become a sort of piggy bank of last resort to pay doctors and hospitals for patients who don't pay them.
- Therefore, the currency board is not the lender of last resort to the banking system: if a bank is failing, the currency board will not bail the bank out.
Synonyms
recourse to, turning to, the use of, utilizing;
application to, appealing to, looking to
2.1 [in singular] A course of action that is resorted to: her only resort is a private operation...
- In many ways they are a last resort after all other courses of action have failed.
- Surgery is a last resort, though it sometimes is necessary.
- Cosmetic surgery, the last resort of those who cannot hold on to their youth and beauty through diet and exercise, is expanding exponentially.
Synonyms
expedient, measure, possible course of action, step, recourse, alternative, option, choice, source of help, source of assistance, someone/something to turn to, possibility, hope, remedy
verb [no object] (resort to)
1Turn to and adopt (a course of action, especially an extreme or undesirable one) so as to resolve a difficult situation: the duke was prepared to resort to force if negotiation failed...
- In the case of farmers' fields, herbicide-resistant weeds could force the farmer to resort to more extreme chemical use to eradicate the invaders.
- Despite their differences, there is no reason the two sides should have to resort to force to resolve the matter.
- A democratic culture permits the rejection of extremist ideas and actions, without having to resort to other extremes to suppress such ideas and actions.
Synonyms
have recourse to, fall back on, turn to, look to, make use of, use, utilize, avail oneself of, employ, bring into play/service, press into service, call on;
adopt, exercise;
stoop to, descend to, sink to
2 formal Go often or in large numbers to: local authorities have a duty to provide adequate sites for gypsies ‘residing in or resorting to’ their areas...
- These matters are of considerable concern to residents and others resorting to the area.
- Since the duty relates to the provision of accommodation 'for gipsies residing in or resorting to' the area it is relevant to inquire whether the group visits regularly.
- In this respect, it is important to consider the manner of trade being proposed; the number and kinds of persons resorting to the area; the expectations of those persons in respect of access to liquor; and the extent to which other premises in the area can meet those expectations.
Phrases
as a first (or last or final) resort
in the last resort
Derivatives
resorter
- Suddenly our problem was solved: row upon row of buses came to take our fellow resorters away - down to the river, where the casinos were anchored.
- How did the resorters occupy themselves? One of them wrote in 1887: "During our stay there we had our entire time taken up in bass fishing.
- The resorters do not recognize the men's plight and, with nightfall, both the lighthouse and the shore disappear. Through the long, painful night, the four men spell each other at rowing.
Origin
Late Middle English (denoting something one can turn to for assistance): from Old French resortir, from re- 'again' + sortir 'come or go out'. The sense 'place frequently visited' dates from the mid 18th century.
A resort was initially ‘something to turn to for assistance’ from Old French resortir, from re- ‘again’ and sortir ‘come or go out’. The sense ‘place frequently visited’ (as in holiday resort) dates from the mid 18th century.