adversarial
Britishadjective
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pertaining to or characterized by antagonism and conflict
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US term: adversary. having or involving opposing parties or interests in a legal contest
Explanation
Anything that's adversarial is full of intense disagreement and conflict. If you had an adversarial relationship with your sister, it would be extremely difficult to share a bedroom with her. Adversarial exchanges between countries don't bode well — they often lead to more intense conflicts, or possibly even war. Being adversarial means that each side is antagonistic, sharply opposed to the other, or locked into a deeply divided rivalry. In fact, this adjective is sometimes used simply to mean "hostile." Your adversary is your enemy or competitor, and both words stem from the Latin adversus, "turned against."
Vocabulary lists containing adversarial
ACT Reading Test: Words to Capture Tone, List 1
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Tone and Point of View, List 1
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Words to Capture Tone, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The optical system also showed resistance to black-box adversarial attacks and provides inherent protection against white-box attacks.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
The new agreement is expected to make U.S. access permanent and prohibit adversarial nations from establishing bases there.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
All cyber professionals need to understand how AI models behave in production environments—especially under adversarial conditions, said Sumedh Thakar, president and chief executive at Qualys, a cloud-based IT, security and compliance firm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
He's not the first prime minister to pledge a new style of politics only to find it hard to dodge the adversarial nature of PMQs.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
Many of the professors used the Socratic method—direct, repetitive, and adversarial questioning—which had the incidental effect of humiliating unprepared students.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
