OPPOSITION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Opposition mean? 

• OPPOSITION (noun)
  The noun OPPOSITION has 8 senses:

1. the action of opposing something that you disapprove or disagree with

2. the relation between opposed entities

3. the act of hostile groups opposing each other

4. a contestant that you are matched against

5. a body of people united in opposing something

6. a direction opposite to another

7. an armed adversary (especially a member of an opposing military force)

8. the major political party opposed to the party in office and prepared to replace it if elected

  Familiarity information: OPPOSITION used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OPPOSITION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The action of opposing something that you disapprove or disagree with

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

opposition; resistance

Context example:

despite opposition from the newspapers he went ahead

Hypernyms ("opposition" is a kind of...):

action (something done (usually as opposed to something said))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "opposition"):

reaction (doing something in opposition to another way of doing it that you don't like)

anti-takeover defense (resistance to or defense against a hostile takeover)

lockout (a management action resisting employee's demands; employees are barred from entering the workplace until they agree to terms)

Derivation:

oppose (be against; express opposition to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The relation between opposed entities

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

oppositeness; opposition

Hypernyms ("opposition" is a kind of...):

relation (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of two entities or parts together)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "opposition"):

antagonism (the relation between opposing principles or forces or factors)

inverse; opposite (something inverted in sequence or character or effect)

contrary; opposite; reverse (a relation of direct opposition)

tertium quid (some third thing similar to two opposites but distinct from both)

contrariety (the relation between contraries)

contrary (exact opposition)

contradiction (opposition between two conflicting forces or ideas)

contradictoriness (the relation that exists when opposites cannot coexist)

ungradable opposition (an opposition that has no intermediate grade; either one or the other)

polarity; sign (having an indicated pole (as the distinction between positive and negative electric charges))

gradable opposition (an opposition that is capable of being graded)

mutual opposition; polarity (a relation between two opposite attributes or tendencies)

flip side (a different aspect of something (especially the opposite aspect))

contrast; direct contrast (the opposition or dissimilarity of things that are compared)

conflict (opposition in a work of drama or fiction between characters or forces (especially an opposition that motivates the development of the plot))

antithesis (exact opposite)

antipode (direct opposite)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of hostile groups opposing each other

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

confrontation; opposition

Context example:

the invaders encountered stiff opposition

Hypernyms ("opposition" is a kind of...):

resistance (group action in opposition to those in power)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "opposition"):

strikebreaking (confrontational activities intended to break up a strike by workers)

Derivation:

oppose (fight against or resist strongly)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A contestant that you are matched against

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

opponent; opposite; opposition

Hypernyms ("opposition" is a kind of...):

contestant (a person who participates in competitions)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A body of people united in opposing something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("opposition" is a kind of...):

body (a group of persons associated by some common tie or occupation and regarded as an entity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "opposition"):

INC; Iraqi National Congress (a heterogeneous collection of groups united in their opposition to Saddam Hussein's government of Iraq; formed in 1992 it is comprised of Sunni and Shiite Arabs and Kurds who hope to build a new government)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A direction opposite to another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Hypernyms ("opposition" is a kind of...):

direction (the spatial relation between something and the course along which it points or moves)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "opposition"):

enantiomorphism; mirror-image relation (the relation of opposition between crystals or molecules that are reflections of one another)

antipodal; antipodal opposition; diametrical opposition (the relation of opposition along a diameter)

orthogonal opposition; orthogonality; perpendicularity (the relation of opposition between things at right angles)

Sense 7

Meaning:

An armed adversary (especially a member of an opposing military force)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

enemy; foe; foeman; opposition

Context example:

a soldier must be prepared to kill his enemies

Hypernyms ("opposition" is a kind of...):

adversary; antagonist; opponent; opposer; resister (someone who offers opposition)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "opposition"):

besieger (an enemy who lays siege to your position)

Holonyms ("opposition" is a member of...):

enemy (an opposing military force)

Sense 8

Meaning:

The major political party opposed to the party in office and prepared to replace it if elected

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

Her Majesty's loyal opposition

Hypernyms ("Opposition" is a kind of...):

party; political party (an organization to gain political power)

 Context examples 

The only little thorn that comes with this flower of an eclipse involves an opposition of Pluto and Saturn to that full moon, making this full moon more emotional.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Catherine's heart swelled; she drew away her arm, and Isabella made no opposition.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

She married me in opposition to her father's wish, and he renounced her.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

They are very bad reasoners, and vehemently given to opposition, unless when they happen to be of the right opinion, which is seldom their case.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The only one among them, whose opposition of feeling could excite any serious anxiety was Lady Russell.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Let there be no opposition, and no discussion about it; let us agree amongst each other, and decide the point at once.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

My stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to be married in the course of the spring.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I shall, therefore, set off to-morrow.'—If he would say so to her at once, in the tone of decision becoming a man, there would be no opposition made to his going.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Opposition was vain; and as to Mrs. Norris, he was mistaken in supposing she would wish to make any.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

She would have been glad to know when these difficulties were to cease, this opposition was to yield,—when Mrs. Ferrars would be reformed, and her son be at liberty to be happy.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)