work against (someone)

phrasal verb

worked against (someone); working against (someone); works against (someone)

: to contribute to a negative result for someone : make something less likely to happen for someone

Her lack of experience worked against her in the election.

Examples of work against (someone) in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

They were told to isolate and are recovering after being treated with flu antivirals, which seem to work against the virus, the CDC says. —Jamie Ducharme, TIME, 1 Apr. 2024

Now is the time to embrace more nimble strategies that cut costs and shorten procurement times, lest attrition work against the US and its allies. —Ariel Cohen, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024

The accelerants cure the grout that seals the tunnel’s concrete supports, helping the grout set properly and protecting the work against cracks and other deterioration. —Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik, Quartz, 26 Feb. 2024

How well do at-home rapid tests work against the new variant? —Akshay Syal, M.d., NBC News, 13 Jan. 2024

What To Avoid Some medicines will not work against colds or may be harmful to some people. —Amanda Gardner, Health, 30 Mar. 2024

His decision showed the limits of that strategy and suggested that the hyperbole in which Trump's lawyers sometimes engage could work against them at trial. —Compiled Bydemocrat-Gazette Stafffrom Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 26 Mar. 2024

Fans remember that in 2019, the women began that season on the same team before Tori and her then-fiancé Jordan Wiseley defected to Team U.K. after Cara Maria and her boyfriend Paulie Calafiore rallied the numbers on Team U.S. to work against them. —Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 28 Feb. 2024

But to treat Cole, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine first needed to find a phage that would work against her particular bacterial strain. —Emily Mullin, WIRED, 14 Feb. 2024