Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Latin
Origin: resistere, from sistere 'to stop'

resist

 verb
     
re‧sist W3
1 [intransitive,transitive usually in negatives] to stop yourself from having something that you like very much or doing something that you want to do
cannot resist (doing) something
I just can't resist chocolate.
She can never resist buying new shoes.
it is hard/difficult/impossible to resist something
It's hard to resist an invitation like that.
resist the temptation/urge to do something
She resisted the temptation to laugh.
They only wanted 3 dollars for it, so how could I resist?
2 [transitive] to try to prevent a change from happening, or prevent yourself from being forced to do something:
He resisted pressure to resign.
resist doing something
For months the company has resisted changing its accounts system.
strongly/fiercely/vigorously etc resist
The proposal was strongly resisted by the police.
3 [intransitive and transitive] to use force to stop something from happening
strongly/fiercely/firmly etc resist
Demonstrators violently resisted attempts to remove them from the building.
He was charged with trying to resist arrest.
4 [transitive] to not be changed or harmed by something:
your ability to resist infection
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
 
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