Meaning & use
adversity
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
A period of serious difficulty, hardship, or unfavorable conditions.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: overcome adversity, not an adversity.
Patterns
- in adversity
- face adversity
- overcome adversity
The team showed courage in adversity.
She learned resilience by facing adversity early.
Good friends help you overcome adversity.
Common combinations
- in the face of adversity
- The hospital kept working in the face of adversity.
- overcome adversity
- He wrote a memoir about overcoming adversity.
- adversity builds character
- My grandmother believed adversity builds character.
- financial adversity
- The business survived years of financial adversity.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hardship
- Close in meaning; often stresses lack of money, comfort, or basic needs.
- misfortune
- A specific piece of bad luck; adversity is broader and more sustained.
- adversity
- Use with uncountable grammar; setback is countable for one event.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: adversity or adverse? adversity or diversity?
adversity vs adverse
Adverse is the adjective meaning unfavorable; adversity is the noun for hardship.
adversity vs diversity
Diversity means variety; adversity means hardship.
Practice
Which sentence has correct grammar for “adversity”?
Choose one answer.
Adversity is usually uncountable, so “great adversity” fits. Many adversity needs a plural count noun, an adversity is uncommon, and the verb form is incorrect.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “adversity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.