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Resistance vs. Immunity: What's the Difference?

Edited by Huma Saeed || By Sawaira Riaz || Updated on September 29, 2023
Resistance refers to the ability to fight off or withstand something, often partially or temporarily, while immunity implies a complete, often permanent, inability to get a specific disease or be affected by a particular agent.

Key Differences

Resistance is the ability of an organism to counteract the effects of an adverse agent partially or temporarily. Immunity, on the other hand, signifies a more complete protection against a particular agent, often permanent in nature.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023
In the context of diseases, resistance often means that an individual might still contract an illness but experience milder symptoms. Immunity, however, implies that the individual will not contract the disease at all.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023
The mechanisms behind resistance can be genetic, physiological, or developed through exposure. Immunity usually involves the immune system's specific response to a previously encountered pathogen, resulting in lasting protection.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023
In social and legal contexts, resistance refers to opposition against a force or system, whereas immunity refers to an exemption from certain laws or obligations.
Harlon Moss
Sep 17, 2023
While resistance often requires continuous exposure or effort to maintain, immunity is generally long-lasting and requires less maintenance.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023
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Comparison Chart

Meaning

Partial or temporary ability to withstand
Complete, often permanent, protection
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Contexts

Biological, social, mechanical, electrical
Biological, legal
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Nature

Partial or temporary
Complete and often permanent
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Mechanism

Can be genetic, physiological, or acquired
Usually involves specific immune response
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Maintenance

May require ongoing effort or exposure
Generally long-lasting, less maintenance
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023
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Resistance and Immunity Definitions

Resistance

Opposition to a force or influence.
The resistance movement fought against the dictatorship.
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023

Immunity

Protection against a specific disease.
Vaccination provides immunity against measles.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Resistance

The ability to withstand adverse conditions.
The plant shows resistance to drought.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Immunity

Legal exemption.
Diplomatic immunity protects ambassadors from prosecution.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Resistance

Psychological resilience.
His emotional resistance helped him during hard times.
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023
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Immunity

Psychological resilience.
Her mental immunity helped her cope with stress.
Aimie Carlson
Sep 17, 2023

Resistance

The act or an instance of resisting or the capacity to resist.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

Social protection.
His popularity gave him a certain immunity in the community.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Resistance

A force that tends to oppose or retard motion.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

The quality or condition of being immune
“His above-average size during adolescence did not purchase immunity from the depredations of school bullies” (Stephen S. Hall).
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

Often Resistance An underground organization engaged in a struggle for national liberation in a country under military or totalitarian occupation.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

(Immunology) Inherited, acquired, or induced resistance to infection by a specific pathogen.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

(Psychology) A process in which the ego opposes the conscious recall of anxiety-producing experiences.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

Exemption from certain generally applicable requirements of law or from certain liabilities, granted to special groups of people to facilitate the performance of their public functions
Diplomatic immunity.
Judicial immunity.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

Ability (of an organism, tissue, or cell) to withstand a destructive agent or condition such as a chemical compound, a disease agent, or an environmental stressor
Antibiotic resistance.
Resistance to fungal diseases.
Drought resistance.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

Exemption from prosecution granted to a witness to compel that witness to give potentially self-incriminating testimony that otherwise could not be compelled because of the constitutional right against self-incrimination.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

Lack of normal response to a biologically active compound such as a hormone
Insulin resistance.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

Exemption from being sued
Sovereign immunity.
Charitable immunity.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

(Electricity) The opposition of a body or substance to current passing through it, resulting in a change of electrical energy into heat or another form of energy.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

A condition conferred upon a contestant that prevents that contestant from being eliminated from a competition for a certain time period
The winner of the challenge was given immunity for the following challenge.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

Thermal resistance.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

(uncountable) The state of being insusceptible to something; notably:
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

The act of resisting, or the capacity to resist.
Widespread resistance to the new urban development plans
The resistance of bacteria to certain antibiotics
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

(medicine) protective resistance against disease.
Some people have better immunity to diseases than others.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

(physics) A force that tends to oppose motion.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

(law) An exemption from specified duties, such as payments or services.
Feudal privileges often included tax and other immunities.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

(physics) electrical resistance.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

(law) An exemption from prosecution.
The prosecutor offered the lieutenant immunity for all the crimes he would testify having known to be planned by the elusive drug baron.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

An underground organisation engaged in a struggle for liberation from forceful occupation; a resistance movement.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

(religion) An exemption from penance.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

The act of resisting; opposition, passive or active.
When King Demetrius saw that . . . no resistance was made against him, he sent away all his forces.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

(in games and competitions) An exemption given to a player from losing or being withdrawn from play.
After winning the last round the player was granted immunity which allowed him to stay in the game even after receiving the fewest points.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

The quality of not yielding to force or external pressure; that power of a body which acts in opposition to the impulse or pressure of another, or which prevents the effect of another power; as, the resistance of the air to a body passing through it; the resistance of a target to projectiles.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

(countable) A resistance to a specific thing.
Superbugs are bacteria that develop an immunity to antibiotics.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

A means or method of resisting; that which resists.
Unfold to us some warlike resistance.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

Freedom or exemption from any charge, duty, obligation, office, tax, imposition, penalty, or service; a particular privilege; as, the immunities of the free cities of Germany; the immunities of the clergy.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

A certain hindrance or opposition to the passage of an electrical current or discharge offered by conducting bodies. It bears an inverse relation to the conductivity, - good conductors having a small resistance, while poor conductors or insulators have a very high resistance. The unit of resistance is the ohm.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

Freedom; exemption; as, immunity from error.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

The action of opposing something that you disapprove or disagree with;
He encountered a general feeling of resistance from many citizens
Despite opposition from the newspapers he went ahead
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

The state of being insusceptible to disease, certain poisons, etc.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

Any mechanical force that tends to retard or oppose motion
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

The state of not being susceptible;
Unsusceptibility to rust
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

A material's opposition to the flow of electric current; measured in ohms
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

(medicine) the condition in which an organism can resist disease
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

The military action of resisting the enemy's advance;
The enemy offered little resistance
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

The quality of being unaffected by something;
Immunity to criticism
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

(medicine) the condition in which an organism can resist disease
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

An act exempting someone;
He was granted immunity from prosecution
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

A secret group organized to overthrow a government or occupation force
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Immunity

Resistance to a poison or toxin.
The king had immunity to the poison.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Resistance

The degree of unresponsiveness of a disease-causing microorganism to antibiotics or other drugs (as in penicillin-resistant bacteria)
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

(psychiatry) an unwillingness to bring repressed feelings into conscious awareness
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

An electrical device that resists the flow of electrical current
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

Group action in opposition to those in power
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 29, 2023

Resistance

Electrical impedance.
This material has high electrical resistance.
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023

Resistance

Reduced susceptibility to a drug.
The bacteria developed antibiotic resistance.
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023

FAQs

What is immunity?

Immunity implies complete, often permanent, protection against a specific agent.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Can resistance turn into immunity?

Sometimes, but usually resistance offers only partial or temporary protection.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Is immunity always permanent?

Not necessarily; immunity can wane or be short-lived.
Harlon Moss
Sep 17, 2023

Is resistance always biological?

No, resistance can be mechanical, electrical, or even social.
Aimie Carlson
Sep 17, 2023

What is resistance?

Resistance refers to the ability to fight off or withstand something.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Is immunity only biological?

No, immunity can also be legal, like diplomatic immunity.
Harlon Moss
Sep 17, 2023

Can you have resistance to stress?

Yes, psychological resistance to stress is possible.
Aimie Carlson
Sep 17, 2023

How is immunity confirmed?

Immunity is often confirmed through tests measuring antibodies or protection against exposure.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Can immunity be artificially induced?

Yes, vaccines are a way to artificially induce immunity.
Aimie Carlson
Sep 17, 2023

Is there such a thing as social immunity?

Social immunity can refer to a collective form of protection within a group.
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023

Can animals have resistance and immunity?

Yes, animals can have both biological resistance and immunity to various agents.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Is immunity a right or a privilege?

Immunity is generally considered a biological feature, but in legal terms, it may be a privilege.
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023

Can resistance be a bad thing?

Yes, like in the case of antibiotic resistance.
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023

Is resistance always a conscious act?

No, resistance can be an unconscious biological function.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

How is resistance measured?

Resistance can be quantified using various metrics, depending on the context.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023
About Author
Written by
Sawaira Riaz
Sawaira is a dedicated content editor at difference.wiki, where she meticulously refines articles to ensure clarity and accuracy. With a keen eye for detail, she upholds the site's commitment to delivering insightful and precise content.
Edited by
Huma Saeed
Huma is a renowned researcher acclaimed for her innovative work in Difference Wiki. Her dedication has led to key breakthroughs, establishing her prominence in academia. Her contributions continually inspire and guide her field.

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