resistance meaning

• Noun: resistance  ri'zistuns
  1. The action of opposing something that you disapprove or disagree with
     "he encountered a general feeling of resistance from many citizens"
     - opposition 
  2. Any mechanical force that tends to retard or oppose motion 
  3. A material's opposition to the flow of electric current; measured in ohms
     - electric resistance, electrical resistance, impedance, resistivity, ohmic resistance 
  4. The military action of resisting the enemy's advance
     "the enemy offered little resistance" 
  5. (medicine) the condition in which an organism can resist disease
     - immunity 
  6. 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. A secret group organized to overthrow a government or occupation force
     - underground 
  8. The degree of unresponsiveness of a disease-causing microorganism to antibiotics or other drugs (as in penicillin-resistant bacteria) 
  9. (psychiatry) an unwillingness to bring repressed feelings into conscious awareness 
  10. An electrical device that resists the flow of electrical current
      - resistor 
  11. Group action in opposition to those in power

  Derived forms: resistances

  See also: resist, resistant

  Type of: action, capability, capacity, condition, deadness, electrical device, electrical phenomenon, group action, involuntariness, mechanical phenomenon, military action, revolutionary group, status, unresponsiveness, unwillingness

  Part of: circuit, electric circuit, electrical circuit

  Encyclopedia: Resistance Resistance, Rebellion, and Death

• 
  [Architecture]
  

  See electrical resistance, thermal resistance, etc.

• 
  [Business]
  noun [U; sing.]

  CONSUMER RESISTANCE, CUSTOMER RESISTANCE, SALES RESISTANCE

  1

  dislike of or opposition to a plan, an idea, etc.; refusal to accept sth:

  The proposal has met with resistance.

  Resistance to change has nearly destroyed the industry.

  There has been a lot of resistance to this new law.

  The policy has encountered resistance from the unions.

  2 (Finance )

  the price at which a particular share, index, etc. usually stops rising; the fact that this happens:

  The stock is testing key resistance at 235.

  The Dow has reached a resistance level and is ready to decline.

  ❖ key/technical resistance

  ◆ a resistance level/point

• 
  [Electronics]
  1. Symbol, R or r. Unit, ohm. In a device, component, or circuit, the simple opposition to current flow. Resistance by itself causes no phase shift. In a purely resistive circuit, R = E/I, where R is the resistance in ohms, E is the voltage in volts, and I is the current in amperes.
  2. A property of circuits, devices, or substances that causes impinging energy to be dissipated by conversion to heat. Compare REACTANCE.
  

[Finance]
An effective upper bound on prices achieved because of many willing sellers at that price level.
• 
  [Law]
  The opposition of force to force.
  
  Resistance is either lawful or unlawful. 1. It is lawful to resist one who is in the act of committing a felony or other crime, or who maliciously endeavors to commit such felony or crime. See self defence. And a man may oppose force to force against one who endeavors to make an arrest, or to enter his house without lawful authority for the purpose; or, if in certain cases he abuse such authority, and do more than he was authorized to do; or if it turn out in the result he has no right to enter, then the party about to be imprisoned, or whose house is about to be illegally entered, may resist the illegal imprisonment or entry by self-defence, not using any dangerous weapons, and may escape, be rescued, or even break prison, and others may assist him in so doing.
  
  Resistance is unlawful when the persons having a lawful authority to arrest, apprehend, or imprison, or otherwise to advance or execute the public justice of the country, either civil or criminal, and using the proper means for that purpose, are resisted in so doing; and if the party guilty of such resistance, or others assisting him, be killed in the struggle, such homicide is justifiable; while on the other hand, if the officer be killed, it will, at common law, be murder in those who resist.
     
  
• 
  [Medicine]
  n
  1 : power or capacity to resist; esp : the inherent ability of an organism to resist harmful influences (as disease, toxic agents, or infection)
  2 : the opposition offered by a body to the passage through it of a steady electric current
  3 : a psychological defense mechanism wherein a psychoanalysis patient rejects, denies, or otherwise opposes therapeutic efforts by the analyst
  

• on resistance:    [Electronics]See O ...
• a pocket of resistance:    [American slang]Fi ...
• abrasion resistance:    [Architecture]The ...

Examples

1. he was the forerunner of the resistance.
2. the resistance to him was momentary.
3. the contact resistance is difficult to measure.
4. hearn felt the weight and resistance.
5. a spark of resistance flared in nim.