adversarial
adjective
ˌad-və-, -ˈse-rē-\
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 adversary entry 2 sense 2) an adversarial relationship an adversarial system of justice with prosecution and defense opposing each other
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Synonyms & Antonyms for adversarial
Synonyms
adversary, antagonistic, antipathetic, hostile, inhospitable, inimical, jaundiced, mortal, negative, unfriendly, unsympathetic
Antonyms
friendly, hospitable, nonantagonistic, nonhostile, sympathetic
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Examples of adversarial in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Microsoft has had an adversarial relationship with the open-source community. — Adam Candeub, WSJ, "Will Microsoft’s Embrace Smother GitHub?," 24 June 2018 While the rest of the network is largely dedicated to covering for Donald Trump, supplying both him and his apologists with talking points, Smith often casts himself in a more adversarial role. — Luke Darby, GQ, "Fox News Anchor Shep Smith Said Roseanne Is Racist and Her Show Deserved to Be Canceled," 30 May 2018 That first briefing set an adversarial tone between the press secretary and the press that defined Spicer's time on the job and has continued with his successor Sarah Sanders. — William Cummings, USA TODAY, "Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer says daily briefing is 'not worth it'," 21 May 2018 Rosenthal also instructed the county to provide defendants an adversarial bail review hearing within one business day. — Gabrielle Banks, Houston Chronicle, "Federal judge on landmark Harris County bail suit implements revisions to policy," 29 June 2018 Social media has exposed the shrapnel of the adversarial relationship our country sometimes requires between our politicians and the press. — Greg Burton, azcentral, "Threats and attacks on journalists aren't rare. They also don't deter us.," 30 June 2018 The system uses a two-part AI algorithm called a generative adversarial network (GAN). — Matthew Hutson, Science | AAAS, "Artificial intelligence can predict how you’ll look decades from now," 13 June 2018 Trump had taken a slightly less adversarial public approach with Canada and Mexico during the initial stages of the negotiations, but that ended several months ago. — Author: Damian Paletta, Anchorage Daily News, "Canada’s Trudeau says NAFTA talks broke down after Pence made ultimatum," 1 June 2018 Helping adversarial and subsidized companies like ZTE and Huawei will only add to their market share. — Dutch Ruppersberger And Mike Rogers, WSJ, "Trump Shouldn’t Give ZTE a Pass," 17 May 2018These 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.
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More Definitions for adversarial
adversarial
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of adversarial
: involving two people or two sides who oppose each other
See the full definition for adversarial in the English Language Learners Dictionary
adversarial
adjective
\
Legal Definition of adversarial
: of, relating to, or characteristic of an adversary or adversary procedures : adversary
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