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
Such a distinction had only ever applied to infrastructure firms, like Huawei or Kaspersky Labs, with ties to adversarial foreign governments, and there was no domestic precedent.
—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 14 Mar. 2026
At one point, Wilson demanded her public relations team to distribute adversarial coverage of Ghost, chairwoman of Blavatnik’s AI Film, as the feud worsened, according to a court filing citing a message from the actress.
—Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 13 Mar. 2026
Destroyers also carry between four to eight Harpoon anti-ship missiles that can travel a far as 65 nautical miles to strike at any adversarial warships.
—Luis Martinez, ABC News, 12 Mar. 2026
The United States and Venezuela agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations in a major shift in a historically adversarial relationship, the State Department said on Thursday.
—CBS News, 6 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for adversarial
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 14 Mar. 2026
At one point, Wilson demanded her public relations team to distribute adversarial coverage of Ghost, chairwoman of Blavatnik’s AI Film, as the feud worsened, according to a court filing citing a message from the actress.
—Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 13 Mar. 2026
Destroyers also carry between four to eight Harpoon anti-ship missiles that can travel a far as 65 nautical miles to strike at any adversarial warships.
—Luis Martinez, ABC News, 12 Mar. 2026
The United States and Venezuela agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations in a major shift in a historically adversarial relationship, the State Department said on Thursday.
—CBS News, 6 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for adversarial
Recent Examples of Synonyms for adversarial
Adjective
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The 45th president’s victory in the crowded 2016 primary effectively toppled the existing Republican Establishment, injecting the party with a combination of populism and distrust that was especially hostile to the way things were done before.—
Alex J. Rouhandeh,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Apr. 2026
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Customers will keep fighting back with dirty returns, unused reservations and hostile reviews.—
Christopher Elliott,
USA Today,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Court records and large-scale studies indicate that elite colleges’ race-aware and holistic admissions systems have operated as a negative factor for Asian American applicants, contributing to lower admission/attendance odds than similarly qualified white applicants.—
David Blobaum,
Chicago Tribune,
1 Apr. 2026
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Apple’s latest iPhone software update is drawing attention—some of which is negative—not just for its incremental upgrades, but also for a shift in how users interact with one of its core apps.—
Thomas Westerholm,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Adversarial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adversarial. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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