Resist Meaning
/ɹɪˈzɪst/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo attempt to counter the actions or effects of.
verbTo withstand the actions of.
Sentence Examples
I can't resist sweet things.
The guy was so childish that he couldn't resist temptation.
They are determined to resist pressure to change the law.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The soldiers were ordered to ____ the enemy attack until reinforcements arrived.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She tried to ____ the temptation to check her phone during the meeting but eventually gave in.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English resisten, from Middle French resister and Old French resistre, and their source, Latin resistere, from re- + sistere (“cause to stand”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Shepard: You could have resisted. You could have fought! Instead, you surrendered. You quit."
— 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:
"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."
— 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
"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 […]"
— 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202:
"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."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
"These cates resist me,"
— c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry Gosson, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The soldiers were ordered to ____ the enemy attack until reinforcements arrived.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She tried to ____ the temptation to check her phone during the meeting but eventually gave in.