Meaning & use
antagonizing
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“antagonizing” is a form of “antagonize”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive
Making someone feel angry or hostile toward you by what you say or do.
Grammar: Takes an object: antagonizing the neighbors.
Patterns
- antagonize someone
- avoid antagonizing someone
Stop antagonizing your sister, she is already upset.
The company risks antagonizing its customers with higher prices.
He kept antagonizing the referee until he got a card.
adjectivebefore a noun
Causing anger or hostility in others, often by provoking them.
Grammar: Less common than the verb form.
Patterns
- an antagonizing remark
The antagonizing tone of the email upset everyone.
Their antagonizing behavior ended the friendship.
Word forms
| base form | antagonize |
|---|---|
| third person singular | antagonizes |
| past tense | antagonized |
Common combinations
- risk antagonizing
- Leaders risk antagonizing voters if they ignore the issue.
- avoid antagonizing
- She tried to avoid antagonizing her boss.
- antagonizing the neighbors
- The loud music was antagonizing the neighbors.
- deliberately antagonizing
- He was deliberately antagonizing the other players.
- needlessly antagonizing
- They are needlessly antagonizing their allies.
Synonyms and how they differ
- provoking
- Provoking means trying to cause a reaction, which may not be anger, while antagonizing always produces hostility.
- irritating
- Irritating means annoying someone mildly, whereas antagonizing makes them an opponent.
- alienating
- Alienating means turning people away from you, while antagonizing makes them angry.
- provoking
- Provoking can be playful, but antagonizing sounds more serious.
Opposites
Word family
- antagonize verb
- to make someone hostile
- antagonist noun
- an opponent, or the villain in a story
- antagonism noun
- active hostility between people
- antagonistic adjective
- showing hostility or opposition
Commonly confused: antagonizing or agonizing?
antagonizing vs agonizing
Agonizing means causing great pain or worry, while antagonizing means making someone hostile.
Practice
The manager avoided ____ the staff with sudden changes.
Choose one answer.
Antagonizing means making people angry or hostile. Agonizing means worrying, and the other options do not fit the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “antagonizing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.