resistance

Resistance is defined as a refusal to give in or to something that slows down or prevents something.

(noun)

  1. An example of resistance is a child fighting against her kidnapper.
  2. An example of resistance is wind against the wings of a plane.

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See resistance in Webster's New World College Dictionary

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

Origin: ME < MFr resistence < LL resistentia

See resistance in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. The act or an instance of resisting or the capacity to resist.
  2. A force that tends to oppose or retard motion.
  3. often Resistance An underground organization engaged in a struggle for national liberation in a country under military or totalitarian occupation.
  4. Psychology A process in which the ego opposes the conscious recall of anxiety-producing experiences.
  5. Biology
    a. The capacity of an organism to defend itself against a disease.
    b. The capacity of an organism or a tissue to withstand the effects of a harmful environmental agent.
  6. Electricity The opposition of a body or substance to current passing through it, resulting in a change of electrical energy into heat or another form of energy.

Related Forms:

  • re·sisˈtant adjective

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