Re*sist"ance (-ans), n. [F. résistance, LL. resistentia, fr.
resistens, - entis, p. pr. See Resist.]
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.
1. Macc. xi. 38. 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.
Shak.
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.
Hear it pronounced