noun

1. the act of resisting, opposing, withstanding, etc.
2. power or capacity to resist; specif., the ability of an organism to ward off disease
3. opposition of some force, thing, etc. to another or others
4. a force that retards, hinders, or opposes motion
5. the organized underground movement in a country fighting against a foreign occupying power, a dictatorship, etc., as in France during the Nazi occupation
6. Elec.
   1. the property of a component by which it resists the flow of electricity, usually measured in ohms and equal to the ratio of the voltage to the current: it is the reciprocal of conductance (abbrev. R)
   2. resistor
7. Psychoanalysis the active psychological opposition to the bringing of unconscious, usually repressed, material to consciousness

Etymology: ME < MFr resistence < LL resistentia