antagonize
Americanverb (used with object)
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antagonizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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antagonized,
past participle, past
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antagonizing
present participle
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to make hostile or unfriendly; make an enemy or antagonist of.
His speech antagonized many voters.
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to act in opposition to; oppose.
verb (used without object)
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antagonizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
antagonized,
past participle, past
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antagonizing
present participle
verb
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to make hostile; annoy or irritate
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to act in opposition to or counteract
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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antagonizationnoun
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reantagonizeverb (used with object)
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antagonizableadjective
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unantagonizableadjective
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unantagonizedadjective
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unantagonizingadjective
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unantagonizinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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antagonizesimple
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antagonizessimple
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have antagonizedperfect
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has antagonizedperfect
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am antagonizingprogressive
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are antagonizingprogressive
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is antagonizingprogressive
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have been antagonizingperfect progressive
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has been antagonizingperfect progressive
Past
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antagonizedsimple
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had antagonizedperfect
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was antagonizingprogressive
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were antagonizingprogressive
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had been antagonizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of antagonize
First recorded in 1625–35, antagonize is from the Greek word antagōnízesthai to contend against, dispute with. See ant-, agonize
Explanation
To antagonize is to provoke someone to react angrily. If your mother tells you to stop antagonizing your brother, she's asking you to stop making him mad. Antagonize shares the same Greek roots with the word agony, so think about how much agony you cause your siblings when you tease and goad them into getting angry. Bugs Bunny is known to antagonize Elmer Fudd, who hunts but never does catch that wabbit. Actually Bugs antagonizes every cartoon character he comes into contact with! In English class, you'll often be asked to name the antagonist of a story or novel, the character who provokes the main character to act.
Vocabulary lists containing antagonize
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 1
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 7
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ACT Vocabulary List
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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:
After consulting with his advisers, the Saudi crown prince told Trump that the effort was going to antagonize Iran and that it should be reconsidered, according to people familiar with the conversations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
The former official asked not to be named because they work in public health and don’t want to antagonize the current administration.
From Salon ● Apr. 4, 2026
So that’s where Stroup and Bourne were in December 1977: entrenched in their positions, confident in their success, and unafraid to antagonize their opponents.
From Slate ● Dec. 23, 2025
“When we are fighting for our survival, we can’t afford to antagonize either Biden or Trump,” Mr. Merezhko said.
From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
His tactic had been not to file any motions so as not to antagonize the jury.
From "The Stranger" by Albert Camus
“He antagonizes me on Twitter,” he said to a bystander, in an attempt to pass me off a second time.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2024
However, naltrexone, in both short- and long-acting forms, has the opposite pharmacology: it antagonizes mu receptors, occupying them without activating them.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 13, 2023
Doug antagonizes his commander, avoids his station chores and occasionally does his job of monitoring the cosmos around him for any sign of intelligent life.
From New York Times ● Apr. 7, 2020
Stoner’s implacable stand antagonizes Walker’s brilliant and charismatic thesis adviser, Hollis Lomax, whose “body is grotesquely misshapen” by a hump on his back.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 2, 2015
Nothing worries and antagonizes a female bear more than to have people between her and her brood.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
But Adeyemi describes suffering somatic pain and panic attacks, alleging she is still being antagonized behind the scenes.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2026
Some also contend the deal has unnecessarily antagonized China, Australia’s main trading partner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025
So, people who are sophisticated litigators often don’t do that because it so often fails, and all you’re left with is an angered and antagonized judge who you’ve just called biased.
From Slate ● Apr. 11, 2024
Instead, he says, the experiment merely shows that, when antagonized the snakes are likely to put up a more spirited defense.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 3, 2024
Fyntan and Celine must have been alarmed by our misguided outpost in Kilanga, where we slept in their same house, antagonized their former friends, even turned their parrot out to nature’s maw.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
She needs to maintain her popular tough stance on China without overly antagonizing Japan’s No. 2 customer for exports.
From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026
In it, more realities of the killing are clarified: Good wasn’t antagonizing the agent, and she didn’t turn her wheels to try to hit him, but instead to drive away slowly.
From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2026
Zohran Mamdani, who just swept to victory in the New York City mayoral race, already faces his next big challenge: making the right hires without alienating loyalists or further antagonizing skeptics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2025
At the heart of the case was the late Frank Carson, a veteran Modesto defense attorney with a pugilistic style who delighted in antagonizing police and prosecutors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2025
Terryl felt like her mother blamed her for antagonizing Danny, and making things worse.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
