Adversary Meaning
/ˈæd.və.sɛɹi/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn opponent or rival.
nounA person, group, or thing that opposes or attacks another person or group; an opponent or rival.
Sentence Examples
An adversary yesterday is a friend today.
I'm really excited to meet my adversary.
Is Russia a strategic partner for us, or a geopolitical adversary?
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
In the final chess match, he faced a formidable ____ who had never lost a game.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He was a formidable ____ on the tennis court, winning most of his matches.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English adversarie, from Anglo-Norman aversaire (in Wace's Life of Saint Margaret) and Old French aversier, aversaire (French adversaire), from Latin adversārius, from adversus (“turned toward”). By surface analysis, adverse + -ary.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"In the political drama that Donald Trump has created in Washington, he could not have dreamed up a more formidable adversary than James Comey."
— 2017 June 8, Maeve Reston, “Trump meets the ultimate adversary in James Comey”, in CNN, archived from the original on 05 Aug 2017:
"The real bombshell it contains is not the confidence of the spy agencies that Russia hoped to subvert American democracy. It is that US intelligence experts effectively confirmed that for the second election in a row, Trump acolytes repeatedly used, knowingly or otherwise, misinformation produced by the spies of one of America’s most sworn foreign adversaries to try to win a US election."
— 2021 March 17, Stephen Collinson, “New US intel report shows Russia, Trump and GOP acolytes have same goals”, in CNN, archived from the original on 01 Mar 2022:
"Yahweh′s turning Gog around, putting hooks in his jaws, and bringing him out from the remotest parts of the north (Ezek. 38:4-6) is now interpreted as the release of the Adversary from prison."
— 1998, Daniel Isaac Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25-48:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
In the final chess match, he faced a formidable ____ who had never lost a game.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He was a formidable ____ on the tennis court, winning most of his matches.