OPPONENT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Opponent

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/əpˈoʊnənt/ Listen

noun

Opponent n.

One who opposes; an adversary; an antagonist; a foe.

One who opposes in a disputation, argument, or other verbal controversy; specifically, one who attacks some thesis or proposition, in distinction from the respondent, or defendant, who maintains it. "How becomingly does Philopolis exercise his office, and seasonably commit the opponent with the respondent, like a long-practiced moderator!"

Synonyms: Antagonist; opposer; foe. See Adversary.

adjective

Opponent adj. Situated in front; opposite; hence, opposing; adverse; antagonistic.

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Etymology of 'Opponent'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Opponent" Quotes from Famous Books

... Federalist, but so bitter an opponent of the union of Church and State that his enemies, and even members of his own party, taunted him with being a freethinker,—a serious charge in those days. Nevertheless, Judge Swift held the loyalty of a county and of one rather tolerant ...

— The Development of Religious Liberty in Connecticut • M. Louise Greene, Ph. D.

... one short trip to Cleveland the Republican candidate did not, during the campaign, leave Canton, though from his doorstep he spoke to visiting hordes. His opponent, in the course of the most remarkable campaigning tour ever made by a candidate, preached free coinage to millions. The immense number of his addresses; their effectiveness, notwithstanding the slender preparation possible for most of them severally; ...

— History of the United States, Volume 5 • E. Benjamin Andrews

... "Eck haughtily ascended a pulpit splendidly decorated, while the humble OEcolampadius, meanly clothed, was forced to take his seat in front of his opponent on a rudely carved stool."(261) Eck's stentorian voice and unbounded assurance never failed him. His zeal was stimulated by the hope of gold as well as fame; for the defender of the faith was to be rewarded by a handsome fee. When better arguments ...

— The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan • Ellen G. White

... disposition of actions, or of passions—for amplification takes a hundred different shapes—in all cases the orator must be cautioned that none of these methods is complete without the aid of sublimity,—unless, indeed, it be our object to excite pity, or to depreciate an opponent's argument. In all other uses of amplification, if you subtract the element of sublimity you will take as it were the soul from the body. No sooner is the support of sublimity removed than the whole becomes lifeless, ...

— On the Sublime • Longinus

... deserves to be closely examined. Socrates, I imagine, could have found a number of pointed questions to put to the dictionary maker. He might have begun with two of the commonest weeds, the nettle and the dandelion. Having got his opponent—and the opponents of Socrates were all of the same mental build as Sherlock Holmes's Dr Watson—eagerly to admit that the nettle was a weed, he would at once put the definition to the test. "The story goes," he would say, quoting Mrs. Clark Nuttall's ...

— The Pleasures of Ignorance • Robert Lynd

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