The students firmly resisted having opinions forced upon them.

resisted 是动词 resist 的过去式。resist 由前缀 re-（表示"反对"）和词根 sist（来自拉丁语，表示"站立"）组成，字面意思是"站在对立面"，引申为"抵抗、抵制、抗拒"的意思。