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Webster 1913 Edition

Resist

Re-sist′

(r?-z?st′)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Resisted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Resisting
.]
[F.
résister
, L.
resistere
, pref.
re-
re- +
sistere
to stand, cause to stand, v. causative of
stare
to stand. See
Stand
.]
1.
To stand against; to withstand; to obstruct.
That mortal dint,
Save He who reigns above, none can
resist
.
Milton.
2.
To strive against; to endeavor to counteract, defeat, or frustrate; to act in opposition to; to oppose.
God
resisteth
the proud.
James iv. 6.
Contrary to his high will
Whom we
resist
.
Milton.
3.
To counteract, as a force, by inertia or reaction.
4.
To be distasteful to.
[Obs.]
Shak.
Syn. – To withstand; oppose; hinder; obstruct; counteract; check; thwart; baffle; disappoint.

Re-sist′

,
Verb.
I.
To make opposition.
Shak.

Re-sist′

,
Noun.
1.
(Calico Printing)
A substance used to prevent a color or mordant from fixing on those parts to which it has been applied, either by acting machanically in preventing the color, etc., from reaching the cloth, or chemically in changing the color so as to render it incapable of fixing itself in the fibers; – also called
reserve
. The pastes prepared for this purpose are called resist pastes.
F. C. Calvert.

Webster 1828 Edition

Resist

RESIST

,
Verb.
T.
rezist'. [L. resisto; re and sisto, to stand.]
1.
Literally, to stand against; to withstand; hence, to act in opposition, or to oppose. a dam or mound resists a current of water passively, by standing unmoved and interrupting its progress. An army resists the progress of an enemy actively, by encountering and defeating it. We resist measures by argument or remonstrance.
Why doth he yet find fault? for who hath resisted his will? Rom. 9.
2.
To strive against; to endeavor to counteract, defeat or frustrate.
Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit. Act. 7.
3.
To baffle; to disappoint.
God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. James 4.

Definition 2024

resist

resist

English

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, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, OCLC 519072825, 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.

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

resist ‎(plural resists)

  1. A protective coating or covering. [1]

Translations

Anagrams

References

  1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɪst

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