1Showing or feeling active opposition or hostility towards someone or something.
‘he was antagonistic to the government's reforms’
‘an antagonistic group of bystanders’
‘It is no longer possible for any section of the global population to cling to a system of thinking that is uncompromisingly antagonistic to the thinking of others.’
‘He was rude and antagonistic to my friends, kept picking arguments and was often deliberately provocative, manipulating people into tense arguments.’
‘It recognizes that politics must have an underlying morality to it, but it is antagonistic to traditional morality.’
‘Nor are most Australians of Irish descent (partial or complete) antagonistic to Britain.’
‘The capitalist profit motive is antagonistic to public health, preferring to treat illness rather than preventing it.’
‘I was disappointed that our elected representative was so antagonistic to councillors who were working hard to resolve the dispute.’
‘It is deeply rooted in place and profoundly antagonistic to market values.’
‘I am left wondering what moves people to be so antagonistic to two beautiful and harmless wild creatures.’
‘But in Britain and the US many people feel ambivalent or antagonistic towards the mainstream popular resistance.’
‘The commission on men may well die on the vine from being stacked with members who are antagonistic to, or ignorant of, men's issues.’
‘In the future we might have a Government that is pretty antagonistic to the aid community, and is running some rather strange foreign policy agendas.’
‘Although antagonistic to this cultural heritage, their critiques can themselves be said to assume a national frame.’
‘I have often wondered why so many theologians are keen on the very writers who are most overtly antagonistic to Christianity.’
‘These two communities are often antagonistic to each other, and I think that may be because they do not understand each other.’
‘Some students have trouble coping with friends or family members who are antagonistic to their teaching aspirations.’
‘Their attitudes concerning poetry and its function in life are different, sometimes even antagonistic to one another.’
‘Greek city-states were fiercely independent and often profoundly antagonistic to their immediate Greek neighbours.’
‘The ceremony at the square was watched by more than three thousand people, including many who had been so antagonistic to him.’
‘Would any of the societies be antagonistic to each other?’
‘Lutheranism developed in two different directions, somewhat antagonistic to one another.’
2Biochemistry Physiology Relating to an antagonist or its action.
‘Furthermore, an antagonistic effect of added amino acids, such as glutamine, on sucrose-induced GS expression was observed.’
‘The arms are an important means of defence of our vulnerable points, including the head, chest, and abdomen, as well as of antagonistic connections to others.’
‘This is compatible with a genuine antagonistic action of the drugs during their gradual diffusion and washout.’
‘Such an antagonistic effect of UVA could potentially explain much of the controversy.’
‘It has both agonistic actions and weak opioid antagonistic activity.’
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