Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Acting or serving to oppose; antagonistic.
  • adjective Contrary to one's interests or welfare; harmful or unfavorable.
  • adjective Moving in an opposite or opposing direction.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To oppose.
  • Being or acting in a contrary direction; opposed or opposing in position or course; opposite; confronting: most commonly used of hurtful or hostile opposedness, but sometimes of mere opposition in space.
  • Antagonistic in purpose or effect; opposite; hostile; inimical: as, an adverse party; adverse criticism.
  • Opposing desire; contrary to the wishes or to supposed good; hence, unfortunate; calamitous; unprosperous: as, adverse fate or circumstances.
  • In botany, turned toward the axis: the opposite of averse, but rarely used. See anatropous.
  • Averse, Inimical, etc. See hostile.
  • Unfortunate, unlucky, calamitous, untoward, disastrous.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Acting against, or in a contrary direction; opposed; contrary; opposite; conflicting
  • adjective Opposite.
  • adjective In hostile opposition to; unfavorable; unpropitious; contrary to one's wishes; unfortunate; calamitous; afflictive; hurtful.
  • adjective (Law) a possession of real property avowedly contrary to some claim of title in another person.
  • transitive verb obsolete To oppose; to resist.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Unfavorable; antagonistic in purpose or effect; hostile; actively opposing one's interests or wishes; contrary to one's welfare; acting against; working in an opposing direction.
  • adjective Opposed; contrary; opposing one's interests or desire.
  • adjective not comparable Opposite; confronting.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective contrary to your interests or welfare
  • adjective in an opposing direction

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French advers, from Latin adversus, past participle of advertere, to turn toward : ad-, ad- + vertere, to turn; see wer- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

First attested around 1374, from Old French avers (French: adverse), from Latin adversus ("turned against"), past participle of advertere, from ad- ("to") + vertere ("to turn"). See also versus.

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Examples

Comments

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  • A troll is an adverse creature

    March 22, 2007

  • If you add up all the verses in the Bible, will it take away the adverse circumstances in your life?

    August 1, 2011