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Which word shares a Greek root with antagonist?

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antagonist

American  

[an-tag-uh-nist] / ænˈtæg ə nɪst /

noun

antagonists plural

1. a person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary.

   Synonyms:

   foe, enemy, contestant

   Antonyms:

   friend, ally

2. the adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work.

   Iago is the antagonist of Othello.

3. Physiology. a muscle that acts in opposition to another.

4. Dentistry. a tooth in one jaw that articulates during mastication or occlusion with a tooth in the opposing jaw.

5. Pharmacology. a drug that counteracts the effects of another drug.

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antagonist British  

/ ænˈtæɡənɪst /

noun

1. an opponent or adversary, as in a contest, drama, sporting event, etc

2. any muscle that opposes the action of another Compare agonist

3. a drug that counteracts the effects of another drug Compare synergist

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antagonist Scientific  

/ ăn-tăg′ə-nĭst /

1. A muscle that opposes the action of another muscle, as by relaxing while the other one contracts, thereby producing smooth, coordinated movement.

2. A chemical substance, such as a drug, that interferes with the physiological action of another substance, especially by combining with and blocking its nerve receptor.

3. Compare agonist

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Synonym Usage

See adversary.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• antagonists
  plural

Etymology

Origin of antagonist

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Late Latin antagōnista, from Greek antagōnistḗs. See antagonize, -ist

Explanation

An antagonist is someone who opposes someone else. In Superman comics, the antagonist is Lex Luthor, evil genius and archenemy of the superhero. The noun antagonist shows up a lot when people are talking about books, plays, or movies to mean "the bad guy," but it can also be used to talk about a real person if she acts against someone else. An antagonist is always in opposition, but she isn't always bad or mean; your opponent on the tennis court, for example, could be called your antagonist, simply because it is her priority to beat you in your tennis game.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

antagonist antagonists

There’s no reason Lily couldn’t be a straight-up antagonist, and the film’s story could work just as easily written that way.

From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026

It raises questions of structural integrity: When you depict a character like her as the antagonist of a show’s very likable heroine, you cannot then treat that antagonist as a heroine herself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

Finerenone is a non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist currently approved to treat CKD associated with type 2 diabetes.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 8, 2026

From a reality TV antagonist to a contender in the L.A. mayoral race, Spencer Pratt has jolted local politics, turning personal tragedy in the Palisades fire into a 2026 election campaign.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2026

One of the leading researchers in the field, who helped write the 2009 Amherst paper, is Daniel Anderson, a professor at UMass Amherst, and he’s anything but a purebred television antagonist.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

These include SGLT2 inhibitors, GLP-1-based therapies, and nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists in people with chronic kidney disease without diabetes.

From Science Daily ● May 29, 2026

But even if we’re meant to view our woolly antagonists as sheeple, after a fashion, “The Sheep Detectives” culminates on an optimistic note for both the four-legged and the two.

From Salon ● May 17, 2026

Neurocrine is betting that its experience working on CRF1 receptor antagonists could yield a better muscle-preserving treatment for obesity.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 6, 2026

Jordan also collaborated with Coogler in 2018 with Black Panther where he played Erik Killmonger, one of the most memorable antagonists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2026

But Hamilton’s reference to “fifteen years” turned out to be a precise estimate of their history as political antagonists.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Related Words

• adversary
• enemy
• foe