Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One who opposes and contends against another; an adversary.
- noun The principal character in opposition to the protagonist or hero of a narrative or drama.
- noun Physiology A muscle that counteracts the action of another muscle, the agonist.
- noun A drug or chemical substance that interferes with the physiological action of another, especially by combining with and blocking its nerve receptor.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who contends with another in combat or in argument; an opponent; a competitor; an adversary.
- noun In anatomy, a muscle which acts in opposition to another: as, a flexor, which bends a part, is the antagonist of an extensor, which extends it.
- Counteracting; opposing; combating: as, antagonist forces; an antagonist muscle.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Antagonistic; opposing; counteracting.
- noun One who contends with another, especially in combat; an adversary; an opponent.
- noun (Anat.) A muscle which acts in opposition to another.
- noun (Med.) A medicine which opposes the action of another medicine or of a poison when absorbed into the blood or tissues.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
opponent orenemy . - noun One who
antagonizes or stirs. - noun biochemistry A chemical that binds to a
receptor but does not produce aphysiological response, blocking the action ofagonist chemicals. - noun The main
character or force opposing theprotagonist in aliterary work or drama.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a drug that neutralizes or counteracts the effects of another drug
- noun someone who offers opposition
- noun a muscle that relaxes while another contracts
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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About halfway through (when the main antagonist is killed) every single page was a stop-or-keep-going decision.
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But their main antagonist is the house they are building.
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About halfway through (when the main antagonist is killed) every single page was a stop-or-keep-going decision.
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Is it ever okay for the narrator to behave this way – where the antagonist is the protagonist?
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » Voice Q&A: Evil Narrators and Guy Talk
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But a novel has more depth and dimension when the antagonist is also seen as human by the reader.
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But now your antagonist is a feeble girl, who has been unfortunate from her very birth; to destroy her would be an act of baseness to which you never yet descended.
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A good antagonist is exactly that, an equal opponent for the hero in strength, cleverness, and characterization.
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A good antagonist is exactly that, an equal opponent for the hero in strength, cleverness, and characterization.
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The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antony's fellow triumvirs and the future first emperor of Rome.
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Driving the plot is the story line of the main antagonist, "Big" Jim Rennie.
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