Antagonistic: meaning, example and synonyms
Antagonisticadj. Showing active opposition or hostility toward someone or something.
Example
The two research teams had grown so antagonistic that they refused to share data, even though their findings were clearly complementary.
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Synonyms
- hostile, adversarial, opposed, unfriendly
- Antonyms
- friendly, cooperative, amicable, supportive
- Memory tip
- An antagonist opposes the hero, so antagonistic means opposing.
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Check yourself: Antagonistic in context
Rather than cooperating, the two rival guilds remained ______ for decades, each lobbying the city council to restrict the other's trade.
Answer: antagonistic. Rivals working against each other for decades are antagonistic. Ephemeral (brief) contradicts 'for decades'; unequivocal and irreproachable don't describe hostility.
Some bacteria are ______ toward others, releasing chemicals that prevent competing species from growing nearby.
Answer: antagonistic. Bacteria that chemically suppress rivals act in opposition to them: antagonistic. Tenuous, ephemeral and irreproachable don't describe hostility toward others.