Synonyms of adversarial

adversarial

adjective

ˌad-vər-ˈser-ē-əl 

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• hostile
• negative
• antagonistic
• adverse
• contentious
• adversary
• conflicting
• opposed
• unfavorable
• unfriendly
• inimical
• inhospitable
• antipathetic
• unpleasant
• unsympathetic
• jaundiced
• combative
• militant
• mortal
• belligerent
• malicious
• bellicose
• contrary
• icy
• pugnacious
• quarrelsome
• argumentative
• resisting
• frigid
• antisocial
• clashing
• truculent
• disputatious
• distant
• disagreeable
• biased
• bitter
• rude
• acrimonious
• vindictive
• cold
• scrappy
• disapproving
• hateful
• prejudiced
• spiteful
• malignant
• discourteous
• uncivil
• unkind
• malevolent
• virulent
• rancorous
• unsociable
• malign
• impolite
• unmannerly
• surly
• inconsiderate
• unloving
• cool
• impertinent
• opprobrious
• ill-mannered
• despiteful
• ill-bred

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• sympathetic
• civil
• friendly
• social
• hospitable
• cordial
• amiable
• pleasant
• warm
• amicable
• convivial
• neighborly
• genial
• affable
• gracious
• sociable
• nonhostile
• companionable
• gregarious
• kind
• loving
• affectionate
• sweet
• good-natured
• nonantagonistic
• favorable
• comradely
• benign
• devoted
• nice
• kindly
• agreeable
• accepting
• empathetic
• good-tempered
• understanding
• welcoming
• approving
• warmhearted

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of adversarial

Ditka and Ryan had an often adversarial relationship, with the two nearly coming to blows during halftime of the team's only 1985 season loss, to the Miami Dolphins. — ABC News, 9 Oct. 2026

The partnerships also mark a sharp departure from what had been a uniformly adversarial relationship between Native American tribes and prediction platforms. — Camila Grigera Naón, Fortune, 7 Oct. 2026

These controls should be technically independent of the system being controlled and regularly tested under adversarial conditions. — Babajide Ojuola, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026

For the latter category, the most effective results would probably come from a platform getting close to an adversarial spacecraft via what’s known as rendezvous and proximity operations (RPOs). — Mary Randolph, Scientific American, 29 Sep. 2026