op·po·si·tion

(ŏp′ə-zĭsh′ən)

a. The act of opposing or resisting.

b. The condition of being in conflict; antagonism: "The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself" (Virginia Woolf).

2. Placement opposite to or in contrast with another.

3. Something that serves as an obstacle.

4. often Opposition A political party or an organized group opposed to the group, party, or government in power.

5. Astronomy

a. The position of two celestial objects when their longitude differs by 180°, especially a configuration in which the sun and a superior planet or the moon are on opposite sides of Earth.

b. The position of the superior planet or the moon in this configuration.

6. Logic The relation existing between two propositions having an identical subject and predicate but differing in quantity, quality, or both.

7. Linguistics Contrast in a language between two phonemes or other linguistically important elements.

op′po·si′tion·al adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

oppositional

adjective

Acting against or in opposition:

adversarial, adverse, antagonistic, antipathetic, opposed, opposing.

Translations

αντιπολιτευτικός

antitetico

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

In drawing attention to oppositional writing's dependence on the political system, he is able to make a virtue of its limits and to provide a salutary alternative to extant histories of the utopian and fantastical imaginations of radical culture.

Print Politics: The Press and Radical Opposition in Early Nineteenth-Century England

Imagine the 30-year-old filmmaker of 2027, the very model of the well-adjusted 21st-century queer, who has grown up on a steady diet of gay cinematic images in a culture that caters its advertising to the gay pocketbook: It's unlikely that he will fashion his identity in the subversive oppositional style of late-20th-century gay cinema.

Virtual fabulousness

By young adulthood, this population has more academic problems and is more oppositional and delinquent than peer groups.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: implications for the criminal justice system

On the other hand, we of course know that a harmonious folk community of this kind can only be established by using force to suppress oppositional tendencies.

Neo-fascism and the religious right

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have found that children with at least one alcoholic parent are at increased risk for oppositional and conduct disorders.

Alcoholics' kids face behavior problems

Reading (the) Oppositional (in) Narrative (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991).

The Writings of Melancholy: Modes of Opposition in Early French Modernism

He concludes that Paul was not writing a polemical letter targeting specific opponents, but was using oppositional rhetoric to support his more broadly deliberative intent.

Reconstructing the Historical Background of Paul's Rhetoric in the Letter to the Colossians

The meeting outcomes focused mainly on demanding a transitional process containing joint oppositional bodies, and abiding by the Geneva I communique adopted by the UN Security Council resolution No 2118/2013.

Syrian opposition leaders reach agreement in Cairo

vote for candidate from the oppositional party Democratic Movement-United Georgia, the parliamentary ex-speaker Nino Burjanadze.

Candidate for Presidency in Georgia Akaki Asatiani Calls to Vote for Burjanadze

The difference in support for GERB and the oppositional Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, is now just 3%, according to the latest poll conducted by Gallup International.

Bulgaria's Ruling Party Turns 6 amid Decreasing Support

SAN ANTONIO -- Many children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or oppositional defiant disorder no longer meet diagnostic criteria for these psychopathologies 6 months after they undergo adenotonsillectomy for standard indications, a large prospective patient series suggests.

ADHD less prevalent after adenotonsillectomy

On his travels, he meets Hugh, a 10-year-old who has been diagnosed with ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Aspergers and Bipolar Disorder.

LOUIS THEROUX: AMERICA''S MEDICATED KIDS