Adversarial

//ˌæd.vəˈsɛə.ɹi.əl// adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Characteristic of, or in the manner of, an adversary; combative, hostile, opposed.

    "In polling by the Pew Research Center in November 2008, fully half the respondents thought the two parties would cooperate more in the coming year, versus only 36 percent who thought the climate would grow more adversarial."

  2. 2
    In which issues are tried through the presentation of evidence and argument by adverse parties, with no or limited inquiry by the court's own initiative.

    "Canada uses an adversarial system of criminal justice, whereas France uses an inquisitorial model."

Synonyms

All synonyms
confrontationalrecalcitrant

Example

More examples

"In polling by the Pew Research Center in November 2008, fully half the respondents thought the two parties would cooperate more in the coming year, versus only 36 percent who thought the climate would grow more adversarial."

Etymology

Probably from adversary + -al

Related phrases

adversarial collaborationadversarial stylometryadversarial systemgenerative adversarial network

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.