adversity
Americannoun
-
adversities
plural
-
adverse or unfavorable fortune or fate; a condition marked by misfortune, calamity, or distress.
Friends will show their true colors in times of adversity.
- Synonyms:
- misery, trouble, disaster, catastrophe
- Antonyms:
- prosperity
-
an adverse or unfortunate event or circumstance.
You will meet many adversities in life.
noun
-
distress; affliction; hardship
-
an unfortunate event or incident
Synonym Usage
See affliction.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of adversity
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English adversite, from Anglo-French, from Latin adversitās “opposition”; equivalent to adverse + -ity
Explanation
When circumstances or situations work against you, you face adversity. Refugees from war-torn countries encounter terrible adversity. Adversity, a noun which has been part of the English language for over 800 years, comes from the Latin adversus, literally "turned against" and figuratively "hostile or unfavorable." When things seem against you — circumstances or a stroke of bad luck — you are facing adversity. Sometimes people use a form of the phrase "turning adversity into opportunity." This refers to the ability some people or companies have to take a bad situation and make it into a successful one.
Vocabulary lists containing adversity
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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100 Top "SAT" Words
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 19–24
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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.
See Examples For:
Many of the great sports stories involve overcoming adversity, and Steiner has become a great sports story, which is still being written.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Kirkpatrick has come through dealing with adversity stronger and prepared for whatever lies ahead.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
The Russian term for such toys—which always spring back to vertical—is also an expression for a tenacious person who powers on despite adversity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
It is a growing strain for a society used to adversity but now stuck in a months-long crisis that has no obvious end in sight.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
The administrator had given a speech as well, reminding everyone that space flight is incredibly dangerous, and that we will not back down in the face of adversity.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Throughout our conversation, she doesn’t shy away from explaining her life’s adversities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2025
All of which help combat these adversities we hinted at in the study.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 1, 2024
“This is a story of 45 individuals providing a window through which we can observe how they endured major adversities and built a society where compassion and mercy prevailed.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
More women are having children later, and the age-related decline of the body leads to more adversities, complications, and, occasionally, even death during pregnancy and childbirth.
From Slate ● Nov. 26, 2023
Berlioz never flinched from reminding whoever would listen of his great troubles and adversities, nor from absorbing those torments in his music, much of which is richly rewarding to listen to.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions 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.
