RESISTANCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does resistance mean? 

• RESISTANCE (noun)
  The noun RESISTANCE has 11 senses:

1. the action of opposing something that you disapprove or disagree with

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

4. the military action of resisting the enemy's advance

5. (medicine) the condition in which an organism can resist disease

6. the capacity of an organism to defend itself against harmful environmental agents

7. a secret group organized to overthrow a government or occupation force

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

11. group action in opposition to those in power

  Familiarity information: RESISTANCE used as a noun is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RESISTANCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The action of opposing something that you disapprove or disagree with

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

opposition; resistance

Context example:

despite opposition from the newspapers he went ahead

Hypernyms ("resistance" is a kind of...):

action (something done (usually as opposed to something said))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "resistance"):

reaction (doing something in opposition to another way of doing it that you don't like)

anti-takeover defense (resistance to or defense against a hostile takeover)

lockout (a management action resisting employee's demands; employees are barred from entering the workplace until they agree to terms)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any mechanical force that tends to retard or oppose motion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("resistance" is a kind of...):

mechanical phenomenon (a physical phenomenon associated with the equilibrium or motion of objects)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "resistance"):

friction; rubbing (the resistance encountered when one body is moved in contact with another)

acoustic impedance; acoustic reactance; acoustic resistance (opposition to the flow of sound through a surface; acoustic resistance is the real component of acoustic impedance and acoustic reactance is the imaginary component)

drag; retarding force (the phenomenon of resistance to motion through a fluid)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A material's opposition to the flow of electric current; measured in ohms

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

electric resistance; electrical resistance; impedance; ohmic resistance; resistance; resistivity

Hypernyms ("resistance" is a kind of...):

electrical phenomenon (a physical phenomenon involving electricity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "resistance"):

ohmage (the ohmic resistance of a conductor)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The military action of resisting the enemy's advance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the enemy offered little resistance

Hypernyms ("resistance" is a kind of...):

action; military action (a military engagement)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Derivation:

resist (stand up or offer resistance to somebody or something)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(medicine) the condition in which an organism can resist disease

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

immunity; resistance

Hypernyms ("resistance" is a kind of...):

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

Domain category:

medical specialty; medicine (the branches of medical science that deal with nonsurgical techniques)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "resistance"):

immunogenicity (the property of eliciting an immune response)

acquired immunity (immunity to a particular disease that is not innate but has been acquired during life; immunity can be acquired by the development of antibodies after an attack of an infectious disease or by a pregnant mother passing antibodies through the placenta to a fetus or by vaccination)

innate immunity; natural immunity (immunity to disease that occurs as part of an individual's natural biologic makeup)

Derivation:

resistant (relating to or conferring immunity (to disease or infection))

Sense 6

Meaning:

The capacity of an organism to defend itself against harmful environmental agents

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

these trees are widely planted because of their resistance to salt and smog

Hypernyms ("resistance" is a kind of...):

capability; capacity (the susceptibility of something to a particular treatment)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A secret group organized to overthrow a government or occupation force

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

resistance; underground

Hypernyms ("resistance" is a kind of...):

revolutionary group (a political unit organized to promote revolution)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "resistance"):

Maquis (the French underground that fought against the German occupation in World War II)

Sense 8

Meaning:

The degree of unresponsiveness of a disease-causing microorganism to antibiotics or other drugs (as in penicillin-resistant bacteria)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("resistance" is a kind of...):

deadness; unresponsiveness (the quality of being unresponsive; not reacting; as a quality of people, it is marked by a failure to respond quickly or with emotion to people or events)

Domain category:

bacteria; bacterium ((microbiology) single-celled or noncellular spherical or spiral or rod-shaped organisms lacking chlorophyll that reproduce by fission; important as pathogens and for biochemical properties; taxonomy is difficult; often considered to be plants)

Derivation:

resistant (relating to or conferring immunity (to disease or infection))

Sense 9

Meaning:

(psychiatry) an unwillingness to bring repressed feelings into conscious awareness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("resistance" is a kind of...):

involuntariness; unwillingness (the trait of being unwilling)

Domain category:

psychiatry; psychological medicine; psychopathology (the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders)

Derivation:

resistant (impervious to being affected)

Sense 10

Meaning:

An electrical device that resists the flow of electrical current

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

resistance; resistor

Hypernyms ("resistance" is a kind of...):

electrical device (a device that produces or is powered by electricity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "resistance"):

ballast; ballast resistor; barretter (a resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for changes (as those arising from temperature fluctuations))

rheostat; variable resistor (resistor for regulating current)

potential divider; voltage divider (resistors connected in series across a voltage source; used to obtain a desired fraction of the voltage)

Holonyms ("resistance" is a part of...):

circuit; electric circuit; electrical circuit (an electrical device that provides a path for electrical current to flow)

Sense 11

Meaning:

Group action in opposition to those in power

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("resistance" is a kind of...):

group action (action taken by a group of people)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "resistance"):

confrontation; opposition (the act of hostile groups opposing each other)

sales resistance (resistance by potential customers to aggressive selling practices)

defiance (a defiant act)

contravention; dispute (coming into conflict with)

obstructionism (deliberate interference)

dissent; objection; protest (the act of protesting; a public (often organized) manifestation of dissent)

rebellion (refusal to accept some authority or code or convention)

insubordination; rebelliousness (an insubordinate act)

Derivation:

resist (refuse to comply)

resistant (disposed to or engaged in defiance of established authority)

 Context examples 

Antimicrobial resistance has become a major threat to public health globally with approximately 700,000 people a year dying from antimicrobial-resistant infections.

(Toothpaste and Hand Wash Are Causing Antibiotic Resistance, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

You and I must be careful not to lower our resistance now.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Additionally, ALK mutations are associated with acquired resistance to small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

(ALK Inhibitor RO5424802, NCI Thesaurus)

It also prevents the development of insulin resistance in the offspring of obese mothers after birth.

(Exercise in pregnancy improves health of obese mothers by restoring their tissues, University of Cambridge)

This gene plays a role in multi-drug resistance and is involved in blood-brain barrier transport.

(ABCB1 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene plays a role in both membrane transport and drug resistance.

(ABCB5 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

Genes responsible for multidrug resistance resulting from their overexpression in mammalian cells.

(Multidrug Resistance Gene, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Also called: Insulin Resistance, Insulin resistance syndrome, Metabolic syndrome X

(Metabolic Syndrome, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

The NEO Gene confers resistance to the aminoglycoside antibiotic neomycin.

(NEO Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

At the sight of her thin limbs struggling in weak resistance, such a glow of fierce anger passed over Alleyne as set his head in a whirl.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)