internal resistance

American  

noun

Electricity.

1. the resistance within a battery, or other voltage source, that causes a drop in the source voltage when there is a current.

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internal resistance British  

noun

1. physics the resistance of a cell, accumulator, etc, usually given as ( E - V )/ I , where E is the emf of the cell, and V the potential difference between terminals when it is delivering a current I

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Example Sentences

Each of the fall’s three rate cuts faced successively greater internal resistance.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 30, 2025

“Change is always difficult,” Richardson said in the statement, “and often faces internal resistance from those who benefited from the previous status quo.”

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 12, 2024

At Fox, there is less internal resistance to this mandate than ever.

From Slate • May 15, 2024

So, Dongdong Ye, Xingzhen Qin and colleagues designed a semipermeable membrane from environmentally friendly materials that would theoretically minimize internal resistance and maximize output power.

From Science Daily • Apr. 24, 2024

After years of internal resistance, Bertillon converted the Paris police to a new system, which he modestly called the Bertillon system.

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day