as in hostile
marked by opposition or ill will
the relationship between the president and the congress should not be adversarial if anything is to get done
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Recent Examples of adversarial
Now the two adversarial power-brokers are the unseen Raven and Iliya (Stoycho Kostadinov, seemingly a bodybuilder in real life).
—
Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 22 May 2026
This should concern everyone as forensic science plays a critical role as the one truly impartial player in our adversarial criminal justice system.
—Baltimore Sun Staff, Baltimore Sun, 20 May 2026
The firms say that the adversarial system relies on courts hearing perspectives from both sides and that lawyers must be able to represent unpopular causes.
—Brittney Melton, NPR, 14 May 2026
Here, competition for regional influence has produced a more openly adversarial dynamic, one that both sides have mostly managed without military escalations.
—Yu Jie, Time, 13 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for adversarial
Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 22 May 2026
This should concern everyone as forensic science plays a critical role as the one truly impartial player in our adversarial criminal justice system.
—Baltimore Sun Staff, Baltimore Sun, 20 May 2026
The firms say that the adversarial system relies on courts hearing perspectives from both sides and that lawyers must be able to represent unpopular causes.
—Brittney Melton, NPR, 14 May 2026
Here, competition for regional influence has produced a more openly adversarial dynamic, one that both sides have mostly managed without military escalations.
—Yu Jie, Time, 13 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for adversarial
Recent Examples of Synonyms for adversarial
Adjective
-
Weiss and Tom Cibrowski were openly hostile from the start.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
3 June 2026
-
The Space Force budget has grown significantly in recent years, and one of its mandates is countering spying and potentially hostile acts by Russian and Chinese spacecraft in these orbits.—
Eric Berger,
ArsTechnica,
2 June 2026
Adjective
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Republicans can be convinced that negative stories about their candidates are media put-ons, and Democrats are a little envious that their voters haven’t adopted the same attitude of ignore, fight, move on, maybe sue.—
David Weigel,
semafor.com,
3 June 2026
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The system features an open architecture that pairs a pure lithium metal negative electrode directly with ambient oxygen drawn from the surrounding atmosphere to act as the positive electrode reactant.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
3 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Adversarial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adversarial. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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