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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

antagonist.

An opponent or enemy.

10 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ænˈtæɡənɪst/Received-Pronunciation/ænˈtæɡənɪst/Canada, General-American[ɛə̯nˈtæɡənɪst]Canada, General-American/ænˈtæɡənɪst/Australia
  1. An opponent or enemy.

  2. One who antagonizes or stirs.

  3. A chemical that binds to a receptor but does not produce a physiological response, blocking the action of other agonist chemicals, such as endogenous chemical messengers.

  4. The main character or force opposing the protagonist in a literary work or drama.

  5. A muscle that acts in opposition to another.

    A flexor, which bends a part, is the antagonist of an extensor, which extends it.
Where this word comes from

From Latin antagonista, from Ancient Greek ἀνταγωνιστής (antagōnistḗs, “opponent”) (ἀντί (antí, “against”) + ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs, “a combatant, pleader, actor”)), from ἀνταγωνίζομαι (antagōnízomai, “to antagonize”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.