résistantes

Résistantes is the feminine plural form of the French adjective résistant and of the noun résistante. As an adjective, it agrees with feminine plural nouns and describes qualities of endurance, opposition, or durability. For example: des populations résistantes or des femmes résistantes.

As a noun, résistante refers to a woman who participates in acts of resistance, especially within historical movements such as the French Résistance during World War II. In that context, the feminine plural résistantes denotes multiple women who resisted or who were members of resistance networks. The masculine equivalents are résistants.

In science and medicine, résistantes is used in phrases like bactéries résistantes or souches résistantes to denote organisms that withstand antibiotics or other pressures. In these uses, the term is an adjective that accompanies a noun describing resistance in a biological or chemical sense.

Etymology: résistant derives from resistere in Latin, via Old French résister, with the feminine form evolving as résistante and the plural as résistantes.

Usage notes: the noun referring to members of a resistance movement is capitalized when it denotes the historical organization, as la Résistance, but the common adjective and noun forms are normally not capitalized. The term is closely related to résistance, which denotes the act or concept of resistance.