Resistant To: Standard Pattern
Resistant To: Standard Pattern records the directly documented Cambridge construction and keeps the guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Cambridge documents “resistant to” when someone is unwilling to accept something, especially change or new ideas.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Meaning / situation | Form / construction | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| be unwilling to accept change, an idea, or a proposal | resistant to + noun/-ing | Use “to” to introduce what is being resisted. |
| withstand a substance, condition, or effect | resistant to + noun | The same preposition is used for physical resistance. |
| use “to” as an infinitive marker in this pattern | do not do so | It is a preposition here, so an activity is expressed with -ing. |
Quick tests
Meaning / construction test
Are you naming the thing, change, condition, or activity that the subject resists?
If yes: Use “resistant to” plus a noun or -ing form.
If no: If the intended meaning is different, choose the construction for that meaning; do not treat this “to” as an infinitive marker.
Examples
Some staff were resistant to changing the schedule.
The -ing activity follows prepositional “to.”
The coating is resistant to water.
A noun names the substance it withstands.
The group remained resistant to the proposal.
The complement names the idea being resisted.
Further guidance
Construction
Cambridge documents “resistant to” for unwillingness to accept something, especially change or new ideas.
Style Boundary
This page covers the resistant-to complement pattern; compound adjective forms such as “fire-resistant” are a separate construction.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- resistant — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Cambridge dictionary evidence for the adjective construction resistant to something.