RESISTANCE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Resistance

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/rɪzˈɪstəns/ /rizˈɪstəns/ Listen

noun

Resistance n.

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."

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."

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.

Resistance box (Elec.), a rheostat consisting of a box or case containing a number of resistance coils of standard values so arranged that they can be combined in various ways to afford more or less resistance.

Resistance coil (Elec.), a coil of wire introduced into an electric circuit to increase the resistance.

Solid of least resistance (Mech.), a solid of such a form as to experience, in moving in a fluid, less resistance than any other solid having the same base, height, and volume.

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Etymology of 'Resistance'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Resistance" Quotes from Famous Books

... resistance, but only flitted up like a bird, in some unaccountable way, to a limb of a tree, where she sat ...

— Prince Vance - The Story of a Prince with a Court in His Box • Eleanor Putnam

... situation, Nelson stood out well. He was generous, sympathetic, and helpful. The fact that he was inclined to pursue the way of least resistance, and considered it right to "let well enough alone," did not impress one so ...

— Janice Day at Poketown • Helen Beecher Long

... armed and in readiness, and dispersed in different parts of the ship, some on deck, some between decks, and others in the gunroom, to arrest and disarm the traitors; and when the concerted signal was given, this was instantly accomplished, to their great astonishment, yet without resistance. ...

— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume IX. • Robert Kerr

... than a foot in depth. Here the first point, where the mound was, protected it from the wind and sea. This was the cove which he had noticed. The water was all white with foam, but offered scarcely any resistance to him. He had but to ...

— Cord and Creese • James de Mille

... wind seemed to blow on her with a touch of deference... As for Sue and me when we were at our own best, long ago—when our minds were clear, and our love of truth fearless—the time was not ripe for us! Our ideas were fifty years too soon to be any good to us. And so the resistance they met with brought reaction in her, and recklessness and ruin on me! ... There—this, Mrs. Edlin, is how I go on to myself continually, as I lie here. I ...

— Jude the Obscure • Thomas Hardy

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