antagonistic
Americanadjective
-
acting in opposition; opposing, especially mutually.
-
hostile; unfriendly.
adjective
-
in active opposition
-
mutually opposed
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of antagonistic
First recorded in 1625–35; antagonist + -ic
Explanation
If you're antagonistic, you're hard to get along with. Harmony is not your friend — you prefer hostility and struggle. If you're antagonistic to your little brother, you're always picking on him and giving him a hard time — causing him agony — a word that's buried in antagonistic. Even drugs or chemicals can be antagonistic: if you take a sleeping pill and then follow it with a few cups of espresso, the interaction is likely to be antagonistic. The sleeping pill and the caffeine struggle against each other and you're not likely to get much sleep.
Vocabulary lists containing antagonistic
Opposites Attract
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A Wrinkle in Time
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Divergent
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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.
Antagonistic or demeaning remarks are deleted or hidden on their online channels.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 4, 2022
Antagonistic pathways and gene products that balance trait characteristics are frequently found in flowering plants.
From Nature • Jul. 14, 2020
Antagonistic audiences pummeled the early Marx Brothers with, as Harpo recalled, “sticks, bricks, spitballs, cigar butts, peach pits and chewed-out stalks of sugar cane.”
From Washington Post • Nov. 30, 2015
Antagonistic newspapermen who baited him found themselves answered gravely and at length, could not swear that he knew he was being baited.
From Time Magazine Archive
There is a something in her very face Antagonistic to the work of grace.
From The Verse-Book of a Homely Woman by Inchfawn, Fay
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.
