English Explanatory Dictionary

against

English dictionary entry

Meanings

prep
  1. In a contrary direction to.
  2. In physical opposition to; in collision with.
  3. In physical contact with, so as to abut or be supported by.
  4. Close to, alongside.
  5. In front of; before (a background).
  6. In contrast or comparison with.
  7. In competition with, versus.
  8. Contrary to; in conflict with.
  9. In opposition to.
  10. Of betting odds, denoting a worse-than-even chance.
  11. In exchange for.
  12. As counterbalance to.
conj
  1. By the time that (something happened); before.

Pronunciation

/əˈɡɛ̟nst/ /əˈɡeɪ̯nst/ en-us-against.ogg /əˈɡɪ̟nst/ /əˈɡe̟nst/ /əˈɡæ̝ɪ̯nst/

Word forms

against againest agaynest agaynst ageinest ageinst agenest agenst ageynest ageynst agin 'gainst gainst

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Germanic *in Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *ganganąder.? Proto-Germanic *gagin Proto-Germanic *in gagin Proto-West Germanic *in gagin Old English onġēander. Middle English ayenes English against Formed from Middle English ayenes, agenes, againes (“in opposition to”), a southern variant of agen, or directly from again, either way with adverbial genitive singular ending -es; the parasitic -t was added circa 1350, probably by confusion with the superlative ending -est. By surface analysis, again + -st (excrescent ending). Cognate with Saterland Frisian juun (“against”), West Frisian tsjin (“against”), Dutch tegen (“against”), German Low German gegen (“against”), German gegen (“against”), Icelandic gegn (“against”).

Synonyms

versus

Antonyms

with for on

Derived words

act against against all odds againster againstism against nature againstness against one's better judgment against someone's will against the clock against the collar against the grain against the hair against the law against the run of play against the world against time a house divided against itself cannot stand as against as much sinning as sinned against back against the wall bang one's head against a brick wall bear against beat one's head against a stone wall brief against bring up against chalk against come up against count against crime against humanity crime against nature criminal against humanity dead against dead set against death against discriminated-against give against go against go against the grain go up against guard against have against hereagainst hit up against hold against hope against hope kick against kick against the pricks make against make head against over against pit against play against type play both ends against the middle play both sides against the middle play one against another push against an open door push up against race against the clock race against time rub up against
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on A Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary