OPPONENT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does opponent mean? 

• OPPONENT (noun)
  The noun OPPONENT has 2 senses:

1. a contestant that you are matched against

2. someone who offers opposition

  Familiarity information: OPPONENT used as a noun is rare.

• OPPONENT (adjective)
  The adjective OPPONENT has 1 sense:

1. characterized by active hostility

  Familiarity information: OPPONENT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OPPONENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A contestant that you are matched against

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

opponent; opposite; opposition

Hypernyms ("opponent" is a kind of...):

contestant (a person who participates in competitions)

Derivation:

oppose (set into opposition or rivalry)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who offers opposition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

adversary; antagonist; opponent; opposer; resister

Hypernyms ("opponent" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "opponent"):

dueler; duelist; dueller; duellist (a person who fights duels)

enemy; foe; foeman; opposition (an armed adversary (especially a member of an opposing military force))

Luddite (any opponent of technological progress)

withstander (an opponent who resists with force or resolution)

Instance hyponyms:

Antichrist ((Christianity) the adversary of Christ (or Christianity) mentioned in the New Testament; the Antichrist will rule the world until overthrown by the Second Coming of Christ)

Derivation:

opponent (characterized by active hostility)

oppose (be against; express opposition to)

• OPPONENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characterized by active hostility

Synonyms:

opponent; opposing

Context example:

opponent (or opposing) armies

Similar:

hostile (characterized by enmity or ill will)

Derivation:

opponent (someone who offers opposition)

oppose (be against; express opposition to)

oppose (be resistant to)

oppose (set into opposition or rivalry)

oppose (fight against or resist strongly)

oppose (act against or in opposition to)

 Context examples 

But Norton was no Spencerian, and he, too, strove for Martin's philosophic soul, talking as much at him as to his two opponents.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Never have I risen to such a height, and never have I been so hard pressed by an opponent.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“I’ve seen his old faults and I haven’t seen his old merits,” said Sir John Lade, our opponent of the Brighton Road.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"What more have you to say?" she asked, rather in the tone in which a person might address an opponent of adult age than such as is ordinarily used to a child.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Pain and rewards are considered "opponent yet interacting processes" involving partly similar brain regions.

(Study in Teens Shows Brain Responses to Rewards Linked to Pain Sensitivity, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

His opponent's duller and more material mind quailed before the fire and intensity of a higher spiritual nature.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He had returned with the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The matter has ended in reprimands, the opponents have been compelled to shake hands, and there is every hope that all will be well.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He disliked and distrusted the sex, but he was always a chivalrous opponent.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It had been fighting, and manifestly had had a savage opponent, for its throat was torn away, and its belly was slit open as if with a savage claw.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)