resistible

American  

[ri-zis-tuh-buhl] / rɪˈzɪs tə bəl /

adjective

1. that can be resisted.

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Other Word Forms

• interresistibility noun
• nonresistibility noun
• nonresistible adjective
• resistibility noun
• resistibleness noun
• resistibly adverb
• unresistible adjective

Etymology

Origin of resistible

First recorded in 1635–45; resist + -ible

Explanation

If you're not charmed by or interested in an artist's work, you can describe it as resistible. In other words, you find it easy to resist. You might find a used car salesman's style to be completely resistible, and leave the car lot without spending a dime. Or you could explain that you find the death metal genre of music to be resistible when your friend asks why you won't go to a concert with him. Irresistible is more commonly used than resistible, but both words stem from the Latin resistere, "to resist or withstand," from re, "against," and sistere, "take a stand."

Example Sentences

Unfortunately, the resulting film, Joker: Folie à Deux, was something audiences found entirely resistible.

From BBC • Dec. 25, 2024

STONEA, England — It is the immovable object that keeps meeting up with a resistible force: a bridge in eastern England that trucks, campers and vans smash into with startling regularity.

From New York Times • Dec. 25, 2022

She won’t be able to shake them so easily; her premises aren’t resistible enough.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 2, 2021

If it does so, this will be despite featuring a sport that UK audiences have traditionally found highly resistible: American football.

From The Guardian • Mar. 23, 2010

Internally, the important institutional decisions seem to have been made by a process of accommodation and adaptation, with resistible forces always meeting movable objects.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas