Opposition

How to spell opposition

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce opposition

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does opposition mean?

1. nounActive resistance or disagreement directed against a person, plan, or idea.
2. nounThe political party or parties opposed to the government currently in power.
3. nounThe team or competitor one is playing or competing against.

Opposition in a sentence

• The new parking charges met fierce opposition from local residents.

• The leader of the opposition challenged the minister during the debate.

• The coach studied the opposition before the weekend match.

• Her proposal passed despite strong opposition on the committee.

• The bill was attacked by the opposition as poorly funded.

• Our side struggled to break down a well organised opposition.

Where does opposition come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Opposition arrived in English in the late 1300s from the Latin oppositio, a noun built on the verb opponere, meaning 'to set against' or 'to place opposite'. That verb joins the prefix ob- (here softened to op- before the p), meaning 'against', to ponere, meaning 'to put or place', so the literal sense is something placed in the way of something else. The same ponere root quietly supplies a whole family of English words, including 'position', 'compose', 'deposit' and 'oppose', which is why the spelling keeps that tell-tale pos in the middle. English first used opposition in the general sense of resistance or contrast, and only later, by the early 1700s, did it take on the political meaning of the party set against the government. The doubled p is the spelling trap, and it makes perfect sense once you see that ob- collided with the p of ponere.

How the word is built

• op- (variant of ob-: against)
• pos (from Latin ponere: to put or place)
• -ition (noun-forming suffix)