Resolution, in the sense I'm talking about here, refers to the number of pixels that compose the picture on the TV. A single pixel, or discrete picture element, consists of a tiny dot on the screen. On today's TVs there are between roughly one million (for 720p TVs) to eight million (for 4K Ultra HD TVs) such dots. You'll have to look very closely, or whip out a magnifying glass, to discern one.
Although it's the most common specification used to sell TVs these days, partly because "eight million pixels" sounds really impressive, resolution is not the most important ingredient in picture quality. Just because a TV says "4K Ultra HD" doesn't always mean it's better than a 1080p TV. It usually does, but not always, and for reasons that have little to do with resolution. See my article Why 4K TVs aren't stupid (anymore) for more on that.
That said, it's still worth understanding the various resolutions used by TV makers and others. Here a bit more, ahem, detail.
4K or Ultra HD
Let's start at the top of the current TV market: 4K. This is a good place to begin, as it lets us talk about the basis for the vast majority of the confusion when it comes to resolution.
The short version is this: When it comes to TVs, 4K and Ultra HD (or UHD) are referring to the same resolution. Those TVs, along with Ultra HD Blu-ray, and nearly all UHD streaming content from Netflix, Amazon and others, is 3,840x2,160 resolution.
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