oppugn

[uh-pyoon]

verb (used with object)

1. to assail by criticism, argument, or action.

2. to call in question; dispute.

oppugn

/ əˈpjuːn /

verb

1. (tr) to call into question; dispute

Other Word Forms

• oppugner noun
• unoppugned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of oppugn¹

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin oppugnāre to oppose, attack, equivalent to op- op- + pugnāre to fight, derivative of pugnus fist; pugilism

Word History and Origins

Origin of oppugn¹

C15: from Latin oppugnāre, from ob- against + pugnāre to fight, from pugnus clenched fist; see _pugnacious

Example Sentences

Also, g before n, as gnat, gnaw, gnarl, gnome, gnash, reign, deign, sign, consign, assign, design, condign, benign, impugn, oppugn, arraign, campaign.

From Project Gutenberg

He never exults in his triumphs, nor is querulous on those who oppugned them.

From Project Gutenberg

Say, could not you twins, now, once come forward and speak as petition-masters-general in the halls of the Diet, or, as magistri sententiarum, oppugn one another within the walls of the universities on Commencement days?

From Project Gutenberg

I have amused myself by selecting from out this wealth of observations a group of facts wherein are displayed the secular instincts, the "anagke," of the species—oppugned, shattered, vanquished.

From Project Gutenberg

For, though behind by a cannon or schooner, That nation still is predominant Whose pulse beats quickest in zeal to oppugn or Succour another, in wrong or want, Passing the frontier in love and abhorrence.

From Project Gutenberg