Meaning & use
oppose
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To disagree strongly with a plan or person and try to stop it from succeeding.
Grammar: Takes a direct object with no preposition: oppose the plan, not oppose against the plan.
Patterns
- oppose something
- oppose someone's plan
- strongly oppose something
Many residents oppose the new highway.
She openly opposed the decision to close the library.
The union opposes any cut in wages.
verbtransitive
To compete against someone, for example in a game or an election.
Grammar: Often used in the passive: she will be opposed by two candidates.
Patterns
- oppose someone in something
- be opposed by someone
She will oppose the mayor in next month's election.
Our school team opposes the champions in the final.
Two candidates opposed him for the party leadership.
verbtransitiveformal
To set one thing against another, so that the contrast between them becomes clear.
Grammar: Formal; often passive with to: An is opposed to B.
Patterns
- oppose X to Y
The essay opposes tradition to innovation throughout.
In the poem, light is opposed to darkness.
The author opposes reason to emotion in each chapter.
Word forms
| third person singular | opposes |
|---|---|
| past tense | opposed |
| past participle | opposed |
| -ing form | opposing |
Common combinations
- strongly oppose
- Doctors strongly oppose the new rule.
- oppose a plan
- Neighbors oppose a plan to build a factory nearby.
- vigorously oppose
- The party vigorously opposed the tax.
- be opposed to
- I am opposed to using plastic bags.
- oppose a motion
- Two members opposed the motion.
Synonyms and how they differ
- resist
- Resist suggests holding out against pressure or force, while oppose can be just stating disagreement.
- object to
- Object to is milder and often means voicing a complaint, whereas oppose means actively working against something.
- fight
- Fight is more dramatic and informal, and it suggests effort or conflict beyond ordinary disagreement.
- contest
- Contest means challenging something formally, such as an election result or a will, which is narrower than oppose.
Opposites
Word family
- opposition noun
- strong disagreement, or the people who disagree
- opponent noun
- a person who opposes another
- opposed adjective
- against something
- opposing adjective
- on the other side
- opposite adjective
- completely different or facing
Commonly confused: oppose or object? oppose or propose?
oppose vs object
Object to something means to say you dislike it, usually with a complaint, while oppose means to work against it directly.
oppose vs propose
Propose means to suggest something, so it is nearly the opposite of oppose in a meeting; the two are easy to mix up in writing.
Practice
Many parents ______ the plan to start school at 7 a.m.
Choose one answer.
Oppose is transitive and takes an object directly; the other options add prepositions or have wrong grammar.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “oppose”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.