oppositional

American  

[op-uh-zish-uh-nl] / ˌɒp əˈzɪʃ ə nl /

Rarely oppositionary

adjective

1. opposing, resisting, or combating; expressing a view or stance against something or someone.

   In experimental film one often finds an oppositional attitude toward mainstream culture, and a desire to forge an alternative.

2. expressing antagonism or hostility.

   Learning effective coping skills can reduce the negative influences of anger, oppositional behavior, and poor impulse control.

3. relating to or being in a contrastive, symmetrical, or complementary two-way relation.

   This remote-controlled wooden floor lamp is a simple, efficient, seemingly oppositional pairing of the natural and technological.

---

Other Word Forms

• unoppositional adjective

Etymology

Origin of oppositional

opposition ( def. ) + -al ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

Cool became a mainstream commodity in the 1950s with the oppositional tantrums of James Dean.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025

From its inception, the facility faced widespread public opposition, including mass protests, forest defense occupations, and hundreds of hours of oppositional public comment.

From Slate • Apr. 10, 2025

Though the film does not provide easy answers, it does point in the direction of what could be done to make relations between police and citizens less oppositional.

From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2024

Singleton, though, said he’s “not an oppositional guy.”

From Seattle Times • Apr. 28, 2024

It brought together the old revolutionary rhetoric, even deploying some familiar Jeffersonian language, with all the oppositional energy of the Whig tradition, then hurled it at assumption as the new incarnation of foreign domination.

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