2. (Law) Having an opposing party; not unopposed; as, an adversary suit.
Adversary \Ad`ver*sa*ry\, n.; pl. {Adversaries}. [OE. adversarie, direct fr. the Latin, and adversaire, fr. OF. adversier, aversier, fr. L. adversarius (a.) turned toward, (n.) an adversary. See {Adverse}.] One who is turned against another or others with a design to oppose or resist them; a member of an opposing or hostile party; an opponent; an antagonist; an enemy; a foe.
His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries. --Shak.
Agree with thine adversary quickly. --Matt. v. 25.
It may be thought that to vindicate the permanency of truth is to dispute without an adversary. --Beattie.
Usage: Enemy is the only one of these words which necessarily implies a state of personal hostility. Men may be adversaries, antagonists, or opponents to each other in certain respects, and yet have no feelings of general animosity. An adversary may be simply one who is placed for a time in a hostile position, as in a lawsuit, an argument, in chess playing, or at fence. An opponent is one who is ranged against another (perhaps passively) on the opposing side; as a political opponent, an opponent in debate. An antagonist is one who struggles against another with active effort, either in a literal fight or in verbal debate.
But they do not look like the most effective weapon against an adversary that was able to endure eight years of grinding war against Iran without too much difficulty.
Mr. Duke is certainly no ordinary adversary.
Aug. 8 _ We started practicing self-defense _ karate, how to stab with a knife if attacked, how to kick and disable an adversary.
"In the remote chance that we lose, I will personally congratulate my adversary the way they do it in all the democracies," opposition presidential candidate Violeta Barrios de Chamorro said in a speech to 400 chanting supporters.
Rep. Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the House Select Committee on Narcotics and a frequent Bennett adversary, dismissed the ratings.
Haggett said the Arleigh Burke, scheduled for delivery in 1991, is the kind of ship that would make a potential adversary think twice before challenging it.
Tower said the Soviet Union remains a powerful adversary with superior military capability and the West must not lose sight of that imbalance in its euphoria over disarmament prospects.
Stan Shih, founder and chairman of Acer, became IBM's chief adversary.
For years, U.S. taxpayers have subsidized protection of a trade adversary's maritime traffic from the Persian Gulf to the North Pacific.
Da Silva, his adversary in the election, has pledged to form a "parallel government" with other leftists to oppose the new administration.
Khomeini has decreed that the war will not end until his adversary, Iraq's President Saddam Hussein, has been toppled.
Turow was asked if the incident may have been reflected in "Burden of Proof," in which the lawyer-hero burglarizes his own client's house and also has a romantic scene in a hot tub with his prosecutorial adversary.
Even her foes tempered scorn with praise for a formidable adversary.
"In situations of prolonged conflict, the gap between the adversary communities keeps growing, and each side dehumanizes the other," said Ariel Merari, an expert on political violence at Tel Aviv University.
The author detailing Mr. Lee's complaints of adversary journalism was Jim Hoagland, a columnist for, incredibly, the Washington Post.
Browns cornerback Hanford Dixon, a victim of multiple burns on Sunday, was equally generous in praising his adversary.
"I never thought anyone could sink so low _ neither my adversary, nor this woman," da Silva said. "If I erred, I want the people to judge me." His camp attributed the attacks to desperation by Collor de Mello.
And despite some unions' suspicion of employee involvement programmes, this one is being jointly run with the United Steel Workers of America. The USW has proved a tough adversary for the American steel makers in the past.
Da Silva, 44, a former lathe operator and union president, said he would paint his adversary as an ally of the hated military regime and a represenative of the conservative elite.
Mr. Strauss, who never became chancellor, was a longtime adversary of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, leader of the ruling Christian Democratic Union.
In the mines, Anglo is trying to repair its image with the National Union of Mineworkers, a staunch ANC ally and Anglo's chief adversary during a miners' strike in 1987.
The notion of two-sided war games in which players pretend to be the adversary is relatively modern.
The United States got support Thursday from an ally and an adversary for its claim that Libya is capable of producing chemical weapons.
O'Kicki claims he was merely informing bank officials that he would have a hard time being unbiased while the bank remained his personal adversary.
He was an almost impossible adversary. Not only was he made of Teflon, but he was made of magic and charisma.
Earlier administration statements suggested that space-based defenses would replace current strategy, which seeks to maintain the threat of massive retaliation in order to prevent an adversary from launching a nuclear attack against the U.S.
Mr. Miller's chief adversary, Paul Rosen, already has cited the "unsubstantiated" claims against his clients in a motion for new trial.
"If you know what type of sensors your adversary has, and you know what sensors you have, you can tailor your obscurant to affect him and not you," he said.
On Sept. 13, Botha met with President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, a longtime adversary of South Africa.
Even India, Pakistan's longtime adversary, expressed its grief and declared a three-day mourning period.