Adversaries

How to spell adversaries

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce adversaries

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does adversaries mean?

1. nounPeople, groups, or forces that oppose or compete against someone.

Adversaries in a sentence

• The two political adversaries refused to share a stage during the campaign.

• In the courtroom the lawyers treated each other as professional adversaries.

Where does adversaries come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin adversarius, meaning 'an opponent' or 'one turned against you', which was built from adversus, the past participle of advertere, 'to turn toward'. That verb combined the prefix ad-, meaning 'toward' or 'against', with vertere, 'to turn', so the literal picture is of someone who has turned to face you in opposition. English took the word through Old French adversarie in the 1300s, and it long carried a strong sense of an enemy or even, with a capital A, the Devil himself. The same vertere root that gives the spelling its tricky 'vers' middle also powers everyday relatives such as 'reverse', 'convert', and 'version'. Remembering that buried 'turn' helps fix the -vers- that adults sometimes mangle into -vis- or drop a syllable from.

How the word is built

• ad- (toward, against)
• vers (from vertere: to turn)
• -ary (noun suffix: one connected with)
• -es (plural)