Resistance

Resistance

Engineering definition
1.   Opposition, or counteracting force.
      a)   The opposition of a conductor to the passage of electricity or other energy or substance, whereby there
            is a loss of energy and a production of heat; specifically, the potential difference in volts across the
            conductor per ampere of current flow; unit: ohm.
      b)   The opposition to flow of a fluid through one or more passageways (for example, blood flow,
            respiratory gases in the tracheobronchial tree); units are usually those of pressure difference
            per unit flow.
2.   Mechanical resistance: the opposition of a mechanical force to a movement.

Medical definition
1.   The natural or acquired ability of an organism to remain unaffected by noxious agents in its environment; immunity.
2.   In psychology or psychiatry, conscious or unconscious defenses against change, preventing repressed material from coming into awareness; this can take form as forgetfulness, evasions, embarrassment, mental blocks, denial, anger, superficial talk, intellectualization, or intensification of symptoms.
3.   In endocrinology, a defective target tissue response to a hormone.
4.   The ability of red blood cells to resist hemolysis and to preserve their shape under varying degrees of osmotic pressure in the blood plasma.

Confusion
”Resistance” has multiple meanings within the respective fields. For this reason, it is important to be clear about what is being discussed and which technical definition applies.