opposition

See also: Opposition

English

Etymology

From Middle English opposicioun, from Old French oposicion (whence French opposition), from Late Latin oppositiō, translating Ancient Greek ἀντίθεσις (antíthesis), from the past participle stem of classical Latin oppōnō (“I set against”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɒp.əˈzɪʃ.ən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɑ.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

Noun

opposition (plural oppositions)

1. The action of opposing or of being in conflict.

   The two politicians are in opposition.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Terra Firma Party Codex entry:

     Terra Firma is an Alliance political party formed after the First Contact War. Its policy agenda is based on the principle that Earth must 'stand firm' against alien influences. This covers a variety of legislation. Recent activities by Terra Firma include opposition to a law requiring high school alien language study, a proposal to increase tariffs on alien imports, and leading a popular movement to mark the First Contact War with a public holiday.

   • 2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     That worries the government, which fears that environmental activism could become the foundation for more general political opposition.

2. An opposite or contrasting position.
3. (astronomy) The apparent relative position of two celestial bodies when one is at an angle of 180 degrees from the other as seen from the Earth.
5. (politics) A political party or movement opposed to the party or government in power.

   leader of the opposition

6. (law) In United States intellectual property law, a proceeding in which an interested party seeks to prevent the registration of a trademark or patent.
7. (chess) A position in which the player on the move must yield with his king allowing his opponent to advance with his own king.
8. (logic) The difference of quantity or quality between two propositions having the same subject and predicate.

Antonyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.

• apposition

Derived terms

• counter-opposition
• His Majesty's Opposition
• leader of the opposition
• opposition parry
• opposition research
• political opposition
• square of opposition

 

Translations

action of opposing; being in conflict

• Armenian: ընդդիմություն (hy) (ənddimutʿyun)
• Bulgarian: противопоста́вяне (bg) n (protivopostávjane)
• Catalan: oposició (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 對立／对立 (zh) (duìlì)

• Finnish: vastustus (fi), vastarinta (fi) (action); oppositioasema, vastaisuus (fi) (being)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀντίθεσις f (antíthesis)

• Haitian Creole: opozisyon
• Hebrew: הִתְנַגְּדוּת‎ f (hitnag'dút)
• Hungarian: ellenkezés (hu), ellenszegülés (hu), ellenzés (hu)
• Italian: opposizione (it) f
• Japanese: 対抗 (ja) (たいこう, taikō)
• Kazakh: қарама-қайшылық (qarama-qaişylyq)
• Latin: oppositiō (la) f
• Maori: mautohetanga, ātetenga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: opposisjon (no) m

  Nynorsk: opposisjon m

• Occitan: oposicion (oc) f
• Polish: opozycja (pl) f
• Portuguese: oposição (pt) f
• Romanian: opoziție (ro) f, împotrivire (ro) f, opunere (ro) f
• Russian: противоде́йствие (ru) n (protivodéjstvije), противостоя́ние (ru) n (protivostojánije)
• Tagalog: oposisyon
• Turkish: muhalefet (tr), karşıtlık (tr)
• Ukrainian: протиді́я f (protydíja), протистоя́ння n (protystojánnja)

opposite or contrasting position

• Bulgarian: противополо́жност (bg) f (protivopolóžnost)
• Dutch: oppositie (nl) f
• Finnish: vastapuoli (fi) (opposing party); vastakkainen mielipide (contrasting opinion)
• Russian: противополо́жность (ru) f (protivopolóžnostʹ)
• Turkish: karşıt (tr)
• Ukrainian: протиле́жність f (protyléžnistʹ)

astronomy

• Arabic: مقابلة‎ f (muqābila)
• Azerbaijani: qarşıdurma
• Bulgarian: противостоя́ние n (protivostojánie)
• Finnish: oppositio (fi)
• French: opposition (fr) f
• German: Opposition (de) f
• Greek: αντίθεση (el) f (antíthesi)
• Hindi: विमुखता (hi) (vimukhtā)
• Hungarian: szembenállás (hu)
• Irish: urchomhaireacht f
• Italian: opposizione (it) f
• Japanese: 衝 (ja) (しょう, shō)
• Persian: مقابله‎ (fa) (moqâbele)
• Polish: opozycja (pl) f
• Romanian: opoziție (ro) f
• Russian: противостоя́ние (ru) n (protivostojánije)
• Sanskrit: युद्ध (sa) (yuddha)
• Ukrainian: протистоя́ння n (protystojánnja)
• Urdu: مُقابلہ‎ (muqābla)

politics: party or movement opposed to government

• Albanian: opozitë (sq) f
• Arabic: مُعَارَضَة‎ (ar) f (muʕāraḍa), مُقَاوَمَة‎ f (muqāwama)
• Armenian: ընդդիմություն (hy) (ənddimutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: müxalifət (az)
• Belarusian: апазі́цыя f (apazícyja), апазы́цыя f (apazýcyja)
• Bengali: প্রতিপক্ষ (protipokkho)
• Bulgarian: опози́ция (bg) f (opozícija)
• Burmese: အတိုက်အခံ (my) (a.tuik-a.hkam)
• Catalan: oposició (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 反對／反对 (zh) (fǎnduì), 在野黨／在野党 (zh) (zàiyědǎng), 反對派／反对派 (zh) (fǎnduìpài)

• Czech: opozice (cs) f
• Danish: opposition (da) c
• Dutch: oppositie (nl) f
• Estonian: opositsioon
• Finnish: oppositio (fi)
• French: opposition (fr) f
• Georgian: ოპოზიცია (oṗozicia)
• German: Opposition (de) f
• Greek: αντιπολίτευση (el) f (antipolítefsi)
• Hausa: hamayya
• Hebrew: אוֹפּוֹזִיצְיָה‎ (he) f (opozítsya)
• Hindi: प्रातिपक्ष (hi) m (prātipakṣ)
• Hungarian: ellenzék (hu)
• Indonesian: oposisi (id)
• Italian: opposizione (it) f
• Japanese: 反対 (ja) (はんたい, hantai), 野党 (ja) (やとう, yatō), 在野党 (ざいやとう, zaiyatō)
• Kazakh: оппозиция (oppozisiä), қарсылық (qarsylyq)
• Khmer: គណបក្សប្រឆាំង (kĕəʼnaʼpak prɑchang)
• Korean: 반대(反對) (ko) (bandae), 야당(野黨) (ko) (yadang), 재야당(在野黨) (jaeyadang)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: mixalefet (ku), opozisyon (ku)

• Kyrgyz: оппозиция (oppozitsiya), каршылык (ky) (karşılık)
• Lao: ຝ່າຍຄ້ານ (fāi khān), ພັກຝ່າຍຄ້ານ (phak fāi khān)
• Latvian: opozīcija f
• Lithuanian: opozicija f
• Macedonian: опозиција f (opozicija)
• Malay: pembangkang (ms)
• Maori: āpitihana
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: opposisjon (no) m, opposisjonsparti n

  Nynorsk: opposisjon m, opposisjonsparti n

• Occitan: oposicion (oc) f
• Pashto: مخالفت‎ m (moxālefat)
• Persian: اُپوزیسْیون‎ (fa) (opozisyon), مُخالِفَت‎ (fa) (moxâlefat)
• Polish: opozycja (pl) f
• Portuguese: oposição (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਵਿਪੱਖ m (vipakkha)
• Romanian: opoziție (ro) f
• Russian: оппози́ция (ru) f (oppozícija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: опози́ција f

  Roman: opozícija (sh) f

• Slovak: opozícia f
• Slovene: opozicija f
• Spanish: oposición (es) f
• Swedish: opposition (sv) c
• Tagalog: oposisyon
• Tajik: оппозитсия (oppozitsiya), мухолифат (tg) (muxolifat)
• Telugu: ప్రతిపక్షము (te) (pratipakṣamu)
• Thai: ฝ่ายค้าน (th) (fàai-káan), พรรคฝ่ายค้าน (pák-fàai-káan)
• Turkish: muhalefet (tr), karşıtlık (tr)
• Turkmen: oppozisiýa
• Ukrainian: опози́ція (uk) f (opozýcija)
• Urdu: مُخالِفَت‎ (ur) f (muxālifat)
• Uyghur: قارشىلىق‎ (qarshiliq)
• Uzbek: oppozitsiya (uz), qarshilik (uz), muxolafat (uz), muxolifat
• Vietnamese: đối lập (vi), đảng đối lập
• Yiddish: אָפּאָזיציע‎ (opozitsye)

legal: proceeding to prevent registration of a trademark or patent

• Finnish: kiistäminen (fi)

chess

• Finnish: oppositio (fi)
• Polish: opozycja (pl) f

logic

• Finnish: vastakohtaisuus (fi)
• Polish: opozycja (pl) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} opozicio

Further reading

• opposition on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “opposition”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Finnish

Noun

opposition

1. genitive singular of oppositio

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin oppositiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ.po.zi.sjɔ̃/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

opposition f (plural oppositions)

1. opposition

Derived terms

• par opposition à

Related terms

• opposer

Further reading

• “opposition”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.