resist

English

Etymology

From Middle English resisten, from Old French resistre, Middle French resister, and their source, Latin resistere, from re- + sistere (“cause to stand”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈzɪst/, /ɹəˈzɪst/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪst
• Hyphenation: re‧sist

Verb

resist (third-person singular simple present resists, present participle resisting, simple past and past participle resisted)

1. (transitive) To attempt to counter the actions or effects of.
   • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

     Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.

2. (transitive) To withstand the actions of.
   • 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools‎^[1], volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202:

     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 […]

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 16, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     The preposterous altruism too! […] Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.

3. (intransitive) To oppose.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To be distasteful to.
   • 1608, William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, II. iii. 29:

     These cates resist me,

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Derived terms

• resistance
• resistless

Synonyms

• gainstay
• oppose
• withset

Antonyms

• obey
• submit

Derived terms

Terms derived from resist (verb)

• irresistible
• irresistibly
• resistance
• resistant

• resistantly
• resistible
• resistibly
• resistive

• resistively
• resistless
• resistlessly
• resistor

Translations

to attempt to counter actions or effects of

• Catalan: resistir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: vastustaa (fi)
• French: résister (fr)
• German: widerstreben (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: ανθίσταμαι (el) (anthístamai)
• Hungarian: szembeszegül, szembeszáll (hu)
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} cuir in aghaidh, ^{(please verify)} cuir in éadan, ^{(please verify)} cuir i gcoinne
• Latin: renītor, adversor, refrāgor
• Slovene: upirati se impf
• Spanish: resistir (es)
• Thai: ต้าน (th) (dtâan)

to withstand actions or effects of

• Arabic: قَاوَمَ (qāwama)
• Armenian: դիմադրել (hy) (dimadrel), դիմակայել (hy) (dimakayel)
• Catalan: resistir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 抵抗 (zh) (dǐkàng), 反抗 (zh) (fǎnkàng), 抵制 (zh) (dǐzhì)

• Czech: odolat (cs)
• Dutch: weerstaan (nl), zich verzetten
• Esperanto: rezisti
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: kestää (fi), vastustaa (fi)
• French: résister (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: widerstehen (de)
• Greek: αντιστέκομαι (el) (antistékomai), ανθίσταμαι (el) (anthístamai)
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: ellenáll (hu)
• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: seas
• Japanese: 抗う (ja) (aragau), 抵抗する (ja) (teikō suru), 反抗する (ja) (hankō suru), 耐える (ja) (kotaeru)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Kurdish:
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: obnitor
• Macedonian: издржи (izdrži)
• Maltese: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: ātete
• Norwegian: motstå
• Occitan: resistir
• Old Saxon: witharstandan
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: resistir (pt), aguentar (pt)
• Romanian: rezista (ro)
• Russian: сопротивля́ться (ru) (soprotivljátʹsja), противостоя́ть (ru) (protivostojátʹ), проти́виться (ru) (protívitʹsja)
• Scottish Gaelic: cum ri
• Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can
• Slovene: upirati se impf, zoperstavljati se impf
• Spanish: resistir (es)
• Swedish: motstå (sv), stå emot (sv)
• Tagalog: please add this translation if you can
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: ต่อต้าน (th) (dtɔ̀ɔ-dtâan), ต้านทาน (th) (dtâan-taan)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: direnmek (tr)
• Vietnamese: chống cự
• Welsh: gwrthsefyll (cy)
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

to oppose

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: vastustaa (fi)
• French: s’opposer (fr), rejeter (fr)
• German: widerstreiten (de)
• Greek: αντιστέκομαι (el) (antistékomai), εναντιώνομαι (el) (enantiónomai)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: ellenkezik (hu), ellenáll (hu)
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} an fód a sheasamh, ^{(please verify)} cos a chur i dtaca
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: ต่อต้าน (th) (dtɔ̀ɔ-dtâan), คัดค้าน (th) (kát-káan), ค้าน (th) (káan)

to be distasteful to

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: etoa (fi)
• French: dégoûter (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: zuwider sein
• Russian: при́торный (ru) (prítornyj)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} direnmek (tr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Noun

resist (countable and uncountable, plural resists)

1. A protective coating or covering.

Translations

protective coating or covering

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 抗蝕劑／抗蚀剂, 抗蚀剂 (kàngshíjì), 防染劑／防染剂, 防染剂 (fángrǎnjì)

• French: vernis (fr) m
• German: Deckmittel n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: friotán m
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Derived terms

• resist work

Anagrams

• Istres, Reists, Sister, resits, restis, risest, sister