Resist
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A protective coating or covering. countable, uncountable
- 1 To attempt to counter the actions or effects of. transitive
"Shepard: You could have resisted. You could have fought! Instead, you surrendered. You quit."
- 2 withstand the force of something wordnet
- 3 To withstand the actions of. transitive
"At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them […]"
- 4 stand up or offer resistance to somebody or something wordnet
- 5 To oppose; to refuse to accept. intransitive
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 express opposition through action or words wordnet
- 7 To be distasteful to. obsolete, transitive
"These cates resist me,"
- 8 refuse to comply wordnet
- 9 elude, especially in a baffling way wordnet
- 10 resist immunologically the introduction of some foreign tissue or organ wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"The guy was so childish that he couldn't resist temptation."
Etymology
From Middle English resisten, from Middle French resister and Old French resistre, and their source, Latin resistere, from re- + sistere (“cause to stand”).
Related phrases
More for "resist"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.