Origin: Greek suffix -ist
Resist has 8 different meanings across 1 category:
A protective coating or covering.
"The new paint has a special resist that protects the wood from water damage."
In plain English: A resist is something that stops an action from happening.
"His strong sense of self-resist helped him stay focused despite distractions."
stand up or offer resistance to somebody or something
"The strong wind managed to resist their efforts at pushing the heavy door open."
To attempt to counter the actions or effects of.
"The athlete tried hard to resist the pull of gravity during the high jump."
In plain English: To resist means to refuse to do something someone is asking you to do.
"I tried to resist eating another slice of cake because I was already full."
Usage: Use resist as an intransitive verb when describing someone's effort to oppose force, temptation, or change without a direct object following it. When followed by something being opposed, such as "resist pressure," the action implies successfully withstanding that specific influence rather than merely attempting to do so.
The word comes from the Latin resistere, which literally means "to cause to stand." It traveled into English through Middle French as a term for standing firm against something.