resistance

UK: 'resistance', 'Resistance': /rɪˈzɪstəns/

US: /rɪˈzɪstəns/

US: (ri zis′təns)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

re•sist•ance /rɪˈzɪstəns/   n. [uncountable]

1. the act or power of resisting or opposing:
   The plans met with a great deal of resistance.
2. the opposition offered by one thing, force, etc., to another:
   wind resistance that slows the car down.
3. the ability of the human body to resist infection or illness.
4. Electricity the tendency of a conductor to oppose the flow of electrical current.
5. [sometimes: Resistance* usually: the ~] an underground group working to free a country from an occupying power.

See -sist-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

re•sist•ance  (ri zis′təns), n. 

1. the act or power of resisting, opposing, or withstanding.
2. the opposition offered by one thing, force, etc., to another.
3. Electricity
   • Electricity Also called ohmic resistance. a property of a conductor by virtue of which the passage of current is opposed, causing electric energy to be transformed into heat: equal to the voltage across the conductor divided by the current flowing in the conductor: usually measured in ohms. Abbr.: R
   • a conductor or coil offering such opposition;
     resistor.
4. Psychiatry opposition to an attempt to bring repressed thoughts or feelings into consciousness.
5. World History (often cap.) an underground organization composed of groups of private individuals working as an opposition force in a conquered country to overthrow the occupying power, usually by acts of sabotage, guerrilla warfare, etc.:
   the resistance during the German occupation in World War II.
6. Stock Exchange, Business See resistance level. 

• Middle French. See resist, -ance
• Middle English 1300–50

Synonyms

• 1. opposition, obstinacy, defiance, intransigence.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

resistance / rɪˈzɪstəns/ noun

1. the act or an instance of resisting
2. the capacity to withstand something, esp the body's natural capacity to withstand disease
3. the opposition to a flow of electric current through a circuit component, medium, or substance. It is the magnitude of the real part of the impedance and is measured in ohms
   Symbol: R
   Compare reactance1
4. (as modifier): resistance coupling, a resistance thermometer
5. any force that tends to retard or oppose motion: air resistance, wind resistance
6. line of least resistance ⇒ the easiest, but not necessarily the best or most honourable, course of action
7. See passive resistance

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

Resistance / rɪˈzɪstəns/ noun

1. the Resistance ⇒ an illegal organization fighting for national liberty in a country under enemy occupation, esp in France during World War II