resistance Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the action of opposing something that you disapprove or disagree with
    opposition.
    • he encountered a general feeling of resistance from many citizens
    • despite opposition from the newspapers he went ahead
  2. noun any mechanical force that tends to retard or oppose motion
  3. noun a material's opposition to the flow of electric current; measured in ohms
    resistivity; ohmic resistance; electric resistance; impedance; electrical resistance.
  4. noun the military action of resisting the enemy's advance
    • the enemy offered little resistance
  5. noun (medicine) the condition in which an organism can resist disease
    immunity.
  6. noun the capacity of an organism to defend itself against harmful environmental agents
    • these trees are widely planted because of their resistance to salt and smog
  7. noun a secret group organized to overthrow a government or occupation force
    underground.
  8. noun the degree of unresponsiveness of a disease-causing microorganism to antibiotics or other drugs (as in penicillin-resistant bacteria)
  9. noun (psychiatry) an unwillingness to bring repressed feelings into conscious awareness
  10. noun an electrical device that resists the flow of electrical current
    resistor.
  11. noun group action in opposition to those in power

WordNet

Re*sist"ance noun
Etymology
F. résistance, LL. resistentia, fr. resistens, - entis, p. pr. See Resist.
Definitions
  1. The act of resisting; opposition, passive or active.
    When King Demetrius saw that . . . no resistance was made against him, he sent away all his forces. 1. Macc. xi. 38.
  2. (Physics) The quality of not yielding to force or external pressure; that power of a body which acts in opposition to the impulse or pressure of another, or which prevents the effect of another power; as, the resistance of the air to a body passing through it; the resistance of a target to projectiles.
  3. A means or method of resisting; that which resists.
    Unfold to us some warlike resistance. Shak.
  4. (Elec.) A certain hindrance or opposition to the passage of an electrical current or discharge offered by conducting bodies. It bears an inverse relation to the conductivity, -- good conductors having a small resistance, while poor conductors or insulators have a very high resistance. The unit of resistance is the ohm.

Webster 1913