resistance

resistance [ri zis′təns]

n.

[ME < MFr resistence < LL resistentia]

1. the act of resisting, opposing, withstanding, etc.

2. power or capacity to resist; specif., the ability of an organism to ward off disease

3. opposition of some force, thing, etc. to another or others

4. a force that retards, hinders, or opposes motion

5. [often R-] the organized underground movement in a country fighting against a foreign occupying power, a dictatorship, etc., as in France during the Nazi occupation

6. Elec.

a) the property of a component by which it resists the flow of electricity, usually measured in ohms and equal to the ratio of the voltage to the current: it is the reciprocal of conductance (abbrev. R): see IMPEDANCE

b) RESISTOR

7. Psychoanalysis the active psychological opposition to the bringing of unconscious, usually repressed, material to consciousness