adversary
nounattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈæd.və.sɛɹi//
- United Kingdom//ˈæd.və.s(ə)ɹi//
- United Kingdom//ædˈvɜː.sə.ɹi//
- United Kingdom//ədˈvɜː.sə.ɹi//
- United States//ˈæd.vəɹˌsɛɹi//
A person, group, or thing that opposes or attacks another person or group; an opponent or rival.
noun
- 1
A person, group, or thing that opposes or attacks another person or group; an opponent or rival.
He prepared to fight his adversary.
In the political drama that Donald Trump has created in Washington, he could not have dreamed up a more formidable adversary than James Comey.
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.
Etymology
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.
Forms
- plural
- adversaries
adversary · A person, group, or thing that opposes or attacks another person or group; an opponent or rival.
Adversary · The Devil; Satan.adversity · The state of adverse conditions; state of misfortune or…advertise · To give (especially public) notice of (something); to…