adversary

UK/ˈæd.və.sɛɹi//ˈæd.vəɹˌsɛɹi/

adversary noun: a person, group, or thing that opposes or attacks another person or group; an opponent or rival.

Noun

adversary (plural adversaries)

A person, group, or thing that opposes or attacks another person or group; an opponent or rival.
- He prepared to fight his adversary.
- In the political drama that Donald Trump has created in Washington, he could not have dreamed up a more formidable adversary than James Comey.2017 June 8, Maeve Reston, “Trump meets the ultimate adversary in James Comey”, in CNN, archived from the original on 05 Aug 2017
Synonyms:

villain, antagonist

Proper noun capitalized: Adversary

the Adversary

(Judaism, sometimes) The Devil; Satan.
- Yahweh′s turning Gog around, putting hooks in his jaws, and bringing him out from the remotest parts of the north (Ezek. 38:4-6) is now interpreted as the release of the Adversary from prison.1998, Daniel Isaac Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25-48
Synonyms:

Satan

adversary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

adversary in Hindi

opponent: प्रतियोगी pratiyogī, विरोधी virodhī

adversary in Urdu

opponent: مُخالِف muxālif, رَقِیب raqīb, حَرِیف harīf, دُشْمَن duśman, مَدِّ مُقابِل madd-i muqābil, خَصْم xasm

adversary in Bengali

প্রতিপক্ষ, শত্রু

More languagesFewer languages

adversary in Telugu: వ్యతిరేకి vyatirēki
adversary in Malayalam: എതിരാളി etirāḷi, പ്രതിയോഗി pratiyōgi
adversary in Kannada: ಎದುರಾಳಿ
adversary in Odia: ପ୍ରତିଦ୍ୱନ୍ଦ୍ୱୀ pratidwandwi
adversary in Sanskrit: विपक्ष vipakṣa
adversary in Arabic: خَصْم ḵaṣm, مُقَاوِم muqāwim, مُخَالِف muḵālif
adversary in Vietnamese: đối thủ

Examples of adversary in a sentence

Sanctions have failed to put a hurt on the adversary government.
He made withering remarks about his adversary.
The candidate made disparaging remarks about his opponent, but they only made him seem small for insulting a worthy adversary.

All 40 example sentences with adversary

Synonyms of adversary

Antonyms

hero
ally

Forms of adversary

plural	adversaries

Plural of adversary: adversaries

Origin of adversary

From Middle English adversarie, from Anglo-Norman aversaire (in Wace's Life of Saint Margaret) and Old French aversier, aversaire (French adversaire), from Latin adversārius, from adversus (“turned toward”). By surface analysis, adverse + -ary.

A biblical reference, Satan ultimately deriving from a borrowing of the Hebrew שָׂטָן (Śāṭān, “adversary, accuser”). (See also Satan).

Words formed from adversary

Questions about adversary

What does adversary mean?: Adversary means a person, group, or thing that opposes or attacks another person or group; an opponent or rival.
What is adversary in Hindi?: Adversary in Hindi is प्रतियोगी (pratiyogī), विरोधी (virodhī). See Adversary meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is adversary?: Adversary can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce adversary?: Adversary is pronounced /ˈæd.və.sɛɹi/ (UK).
What is the plural of adversary?: The plural of adversary is adversaries.

Words near adversary in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: adversary (page history and authors); Adversary (page history and authors); adversary (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); adversary (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); adversary (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ପ୍ରତିଦ୍ୱନ୍ଦ୍ୱୀ (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-adversary.ogg.

Cite this entry: “adversary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/adversary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.