- adverse
- adverse 1 Adverse, antagonistic, counter, counteractive mean so opposed as to cause interference, often harmful or fatal interference. All four may be applied to one thing that comes into conflict with another{
an adverse policy
}{an adverse wind had so delayed him that his cargo brought but half its proper price— Lowell
}{an antagonistic associate
}{a counter proposal
}{a counteractive agency
}Only antagonistic, counter, and, occasionally, counteractive are used to express mutual or reciprocal opposition{antagonistic principles
}{counter currents
}{counteractive poisons
}Despite their common ground of meaning, each of these four words has distinct implications which limit its applicability and greatly increase its expressiveness.Adverse conveys so strongly the idea of unfavorable or unpropitious opposition that it often means harmful or fatal{adverse criticism
}{adverse fortune
}{a spirit adverse to the existence of democracy
}Antagonistic usually implies hostility and also, when mutual opposition is suggested, incompatibility or even irreconcilability Neighboring races are often antagonistic{the antagonistic principles of aristocracy and democracy— Parrington
}{some sociologists believe that the welfare of the individual and the welfare of society are antagonistic aims
}Counter, which usually denotes acting, moving, or proceeding from the opposite side or from opposite sides, does not necessarily connote hostility but it does imply inevitable contact, with either resulting conflict or tension{whirlpools are usually caused by counter currents in a stream
}{the counter influences of authority and freedom in shaping the character of youth
}Counteractive, on the other hand, invariably implies the destruction or nullification of the thing or things opposed{prescribing physicians must know the counteractive effects of certain medicines on others
}{in the training of delinquents a bad influence is dealt with by the introduction of a counteractive good influence
}Analogous words: harmful, hurtful, injurious (see corresponding nouns at INJURY): hindering, impeding, obstructing (see HINDER vb): detrimental, deleterious, *pernicious: fatal, *deadlyAntonyms: propitiousContrasted words: auspicious, *favorable, benign: *beneficial, advantageous2 Adverse, averse are in origin and in common use contrasted rather than synonymous terms, though they are occasionally used as though similar in meaning.Adverse implies opposition that interferes and it is applied to the thing that stands in the way of one’s progress or success{the leader would tolerate no adverse opinions among his followers
}Averse implies repugnance in the person opposed to a thing rather than a quality in the thing which is opposed{the leader is averse to all independence of opinion among his followers
}However they are sometimes used as synonyms with only this distinction, that adverse is chiefly referred to opinion or intention and averse to feeling and inclination{I . . . hope that our periodical judges will not be very adverse to me, and that perhaps they may even favor me— Cowper
}{the writer of critical studies . . . has to mediate between the author whom he loves and the public, who are certainly indifferent and frequently averse— Stevenson
}{what cat’s averse to fish— Gray
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
