adversarial

adjective ad·ver·sar·i·al \ ˌad-vər-ˈser-ē-əl , ˌad-və- , -ˈse-rē- \

|Updated on: 15 Jun 2018

Examples: adversarial in a Sentence

Definition of adversarial

: involving two people or two sides who oppose each other : of, relating to, or characteristic of an adversary or adversary procedures (see ²adversary 2)

an adversarial relationship

an adversarial system of justice with prosecution and defense opposing each other

See adversarial defined for English-language learners

Examples of adversarial in a Sentence

an adversarial system of justice with prosecution and defense opposing each other
the relationship between the president and the congress should not be adversarial if anything is to get done

Recent Examples of adversarial from the Web

After working together to get themselves out of a hairy situation, the women have officially abandoned the confines of their adversarial roles as Wife and handmaid.

— refinery29.com, "The Handmaid's Tale Season 2, Episode 7 Recap: There Is A Bomb In Gilead," 30 May 2018
In recent months, Washington has adopted an increasingly adversarial stance toward Beijing.

— matthew pennington, BostonGlobe.com, "A year after Mar-a-Lago summit, US-China ties are tested," 6 Apr. 2018
As a result student-faculty relations could sometimes turn adversarial.

— richard mcgill murphy, Town & Country, "How John Palfrey Is Bringing America's Most Elite Boarding School Into the Digital Age," 7 July 2015
But regardless of cost savings, the Trump administration has long had an adversarial relationship with much of the federal bureaucracy.

— benjamin hart, Daily Intelligencer, "Trump Issues Executive Orders Making it Easier to Fire Federal Workers," 25 May 2018
Comedian Sarah Silverman — known for racist bits and language that were a regular part of her act — is rejecting her controversial, adversarial past to embrace empathy.

— krista stevens, Longreads, "The New, Improved, Empathic Sarah Silverman," 24 May 2018
Despite the adversarial titles of their talks, the two researchers find a lot of common ground.

— kelly servick, Science | AAAS, "What’s really behind ‘gluten sensitivity’?," 23 May 2018
Most prominent vegans on social media don’t use adversarial tactics like this.

— jordan bissell, The Atlantic, "Vegan YouTube Stars Are Held to Impossible Standards," 22 May 2018
Typically, nominees try not to make waves at confirmation hearings, and Tuesday’s wasn’t particularly adversarial.

— nick timiraos, WSJ, "Clarida, Bowman Affirm Commitment to Fed’s Independence in Setting Rates," 15 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'adversarial.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.