resistance

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

I

n. recalcitrance (see resistance); impedance (see hindrance, electronics).

II

Active opposition

Nouns

1. resistance, opposition, oppugnance, renitence, stand, front; recalcitrance, obstinacy; impeding, kicking, parrying, imperviousness, endurance, fastness, immunity, immovability; repulsion, refusal; impedance; friction. See unwillingness, durability.

2. strike, turnout, lockout, walkout, job action, [work] stoppage; tie-up, slowdown, work-to-rule; boycott; sit-down strike, passive resistance, [civil] disobedience. See revolution.

3. striker, picket; strikebreaker. Slang, scab, rat.

Verbs

1. resist, withstand, stand [firm], stand one's ground, hold one's own, stick to one's own guns, hold out, make a stand, take one's stand, show a bold front. Informal, stick it out.

2. oppose, defy, face, confront, stand up against, strive against, bear up against; balk, kick (against), grapple with, keep at bay; obstruct, impede (see hindrance).

3. fight, struggle, put up a fight, attack, defend, persevere, die hard, sell one's life dearly, fight to the last ditch. See tenacity.

4. [go on] strike, walk [out], turn out, boycott, picket, remonstrate, disobey, sabotage; riot, rebel, revolt; lock out.

Adjectives — resisting, resistant, renitent, resistive, refractory, recalcitrant, disobedient; repellent, repulsive, proof against, up in arms; unconquerable, irresistible, resistless, indomitable, unyielding, invincible; stubborn, obstinate, obdurate, dogged, firm, uncompromising.

Quotations — It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees! (Dolores Ibarruri), There is a price which is too great to pay for peace, and that price can be put in one word. One cannot pay the price of self-respect (Woodrow Wilson), We are determined to defend our lands, and if it is His will, our bones shall whiten upon them, but we will never give them up (Tecumseh).

Antonyms, see obedience, submission.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [A defense]

Syn. parrying, stand, holding, withstanding, warding off, rebuff, obstruction, defiance, striking back, coping, check, halting, protecting, protection, safeguard, shield, screen, cover, fight, impeding, blocking, opposition, obstinacy; see also defense 1 , objection 1 , opposition 1 .

Ant. withdrawal*, acceptance, submission.

2. [The power of remaining impervious to an influence]

Syn. unsusceptibility, immunity, immovability, unalterableness, hardness, imperviousness, endurance, unyieldingness, fixedness, fastness, stability, stableness, permanence, invulnerability.

Ant. vacillation*, susceptibility, variability.

3. [The power of holding back another substance]

Syn. retardation, nonconduction, friction, nonpromotion, attrition, reserve, surface resistance, detention, volume resistance, impedance.

4. [An opposition]

Syn. underground movement, partisans, maquis (French), insurgency, uprising, boycott, strike, walkout, slowdown, front, stand, guerrilla movement; see also revolution 2 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

fight, opposition, defiance, repulsion, withstanding, repellance, rebuff, refusal, blocking.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The act of resisting: opposition, renitence, renitency. See RESIST. 2. The capacity to withstand: immunity, imperviousness, insusceptibility, unsusceptibility. See RESIST. 3. A clandestine organization of freedom fighters in an oppressed land: underground. See RESIST.