释义 |
opposition|ɒpəˈzɪʃən| [ad. L. oppositiōn-em, n. of action f. oppōnĕre: see oppone, oppose v. Cf. F. opposition (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.). The specific senses 3, 4 b, and 7, appear earlier than the more general senses.] †1. a. The action of setting opposite or against. (In quot., offering for combat.) Obs.
1602Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 178, I meane my Lord, the opposition of your person in tryall. b. spec. Cf. opposable 2.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 209 Two principal movements, namely, abduction of the thumb, and opposition of the thumb... By opposition we mean the power of touching the tips of all the fingers in succession with the tip of the thumb. 2. Position over against something; opposite situation or direction; in opposition (to), facing, fronting.
1667Milton P.L. ii. 803 Before mine eyes in opposition sits Grim Death my Son and foe. 1845Stoddart Grammar in Encycl. Metrop. (1847) I. 134/1 When any two visible objects are nearly connected, in local situation, they must appear to be placed in apposition to each other, if both be viewed from a distant point; but if one be viewed from the other, it will appear to be placed in opposition. 1854De Quincey Autobiog. Sk., Wordsworth II. v. 230 In one quarter, a little wood..; more directly in opposition to the spectator, a few green fields. 3. Astrol. and Astron. The relative position of two heavenly bodies when exactly opposite to each other as seen from the earth's surface, their longitude then differing by 180°; esp. the position of a heavenly body when opposite to the sun.
c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 329 Now next at this opposicion Which in the signe shal be of the leon As preieth hire [the moon] so greet a flood to brynge. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. 55 Sum tyme the mune is in opposition, that is, quhen the mune & the soune are in apposite degreis. 1594Blundevil Exerc. iv. xliv. (1636) 502 You shall find the Moone to be..in an opposition with Saturne. a1658Cleveland Gen. Poems (1677) 165 The Moon when she is Eclipsed is always in Opposition with the Sun. 1701Swift Contests Nobles & Comm. Athens Wks. 1755 II. i. 35 Pompey and Caesar, two stars of such a magnitude, that their conjunction was as likely to be fatal, as their opposition. 1881Athenæum No. 2829. 61 The planet was in opposition..on the 27th of December. 4. a. The action of placing one thing in contrast with another; the condition of being opposed or contrasted; contrast, contradistinction, antithesis.
1581Mulcaster Positions xxxviii. (1887) 173 Oppositions of vertues by way of comparison is their chiefe commendation. 1641Hinde J. Bruen xxxiii. 105 How great is the opposition betwixt that assembly and this company? 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 46 Their Verdure serving as a Ground to the Figures,..improves them by the Opposition it produces. 1846Ruskin Mod. Paint. (1848) I. ii. v. iii. §9. 355 What was made above bright by opposition to blue, being underneath made cool and dark by opposition to gold. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. I. App. 599 In the English Chronicles..the opposition is made between ‘French’ and ‘English’. 1876J. Parker Paracl. ii. xix. 351 Enmity is set in opposition to love, and carnality in opposition to spiritual-mindedness. †b. Rhet. A contrast of positions or arguments; a contrary position or argument; a proposition opposed to a thesis, counter-proposition, objection. (Cf. antithesis 1, 2.) Obs.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxviii. (MS. Digby 230) lf. 133 b/1 There may be made noon opposicioun Aboue þe grounde ȝif þe body lye Þat of Resoun it mote putrifye. 1526Tindale 1 Tim. vi. 20 Avoyde..opposicions of science falsly so called. 1577T. Vautrollier Luther on Ep. Gal. 137 It containeth this inuincible opposition: that is, if the sinnes of the whole world be in that one man Iesus Christ, then are they not in the world. But if they be not in him, then are they yet in the world. 1678Phillips (ed. 4), Opposition,..In Rhetorick is a figure of Sentence, the same with Objection. c. Logic. The relation between two propositions which have the same subject and predicate but differ in quantity or quality or both. The recognized kinds of opposition are four, viz. contradictory, contrary, subcontrary, subaltern: see these.
1697tr. Burgersdicius' Logic i. xxxiii. 128 True Opposition afore-mentioned is either Contrariety or Contradiction. 1788Reid Aristotle's Log. i. §3. 11 The four kinds of opposition of terms are explained. 1844Whately Logic ii. ii. §3 (ed. 8) 72 ‘Contradictory-opposition’ is the kind most frequently alluded to, because..to deny,—or to disbelieve,—a proposition, is to assert, or to believe, its Contradictory. 1860Abp. Thomson Laws Th. 148 Opposition of Judgments is the relation between any two which have the same matter, but a different form. 1864Bowen Logic vi. 162 Opposition..was first applied only to the relations between two Contraries, or two Contradictories. 1866Fowler Deduct. Logic iii. ii. (ed. 2) 74 It is only in a Contradictory Opposition (where the opposed terms differ both in quantity and quality) that from the truth or falsity of one proposition we can invariably infer the truth or falsity of another. †d. concr. That which is opposite or contrary; that which contrasts or counterbalances. Obs.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iii. 15 The purpose you vndertake is dangerous,..and your whole Plot too light, for the counterpoize of so great an Opposition. 1703Rules Civility 137 The Opposition of the Pleasant Stile, is the dull Burlesque that consists in mean Ironies. e. Semantics. The state or condition of being opposite in meaning; the relationship between antonyms.
1870[see antonym]. 1925P. Radin tr. J. Vendryès's Language iii. iii. 218 Among animal names the same opposition is frequent. Latin had equus and equa... In English horse is apposed to mare. 1932C. K. Ogden Opposition i. 8 The theory of opposition offers a new method of approach not only in the case of all those words which can best be defined in terms of their opposites..but also to any word whose use may give rise to controversy. 1963J. Lyons Structural Semantics iv. 68 The polarity of a term is a function of its opposition to its antonym, and not vice versa. 1967R. A. Waldron Sense & Sense Devel. v. 107 Black and white are often two ends of a scale but in ‘people are inclined to see things in black and white’..the pair is taken as the type of all ‘either/or’ antonymic opposition. 1976F. R. Palmer Semantics iv. 82 A quite different kind of ‘opposite’ is found with pairs of words which exhibit the reversal of a relationship between items... Lyons suggests the term converseness for these, but I am more concerned to point out their essentially relational characteristics, and would thus prefer relational opposition. f. Linguistics. A functional, or potentially functional, contrast between partially similar linguistic elements.
[1931Travaux Cercle Ling. Prague IV. 311 Opposition phonologique..—Différence phonique susceptible de servir, dans une langue donnée, à la différenciation des significations intellectuelles.] 1936Amer. Speech XI. 110 A ‘phonological system’ is defined as the ensemble of phonological oppositions proper to a given language. 1953[see binary a. k]. 1963J. Lyons Structural Semantics iv. 68 In Russian or German..there is an opposition to be recognized, in word-initial and word-medial position, between the voiced and the voiceless plosives. 1970G. C. Lepschy Survey Struct. Ling. iii. 58 In order to have distinctive function, speech sounds must be opposed to each other (distinction presupposes opposition). An opposition can be either distinctive (or phonological), or non-distinctive. Only sounds which may occur in the same context (i.e. that are permutable) can be in opposition. 1972M. L. Samuels Ling. Evol. viii. 171 In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries there are signs that the opposition /ɛ∼ɑ/ in class iii verbs is no longer adequate. 1978Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. Jan. 20 The opposition between the reflex of ME ui/oi and ME ī is preserved. 5. a. Contrary or hostile action, antagonism, resistance; the fact or condition of being opposed, hostile, or adverse.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 743 That you vouchsafe..to excuse, or hide, The liberall opposition of our spirits. 1663Gerbier Counsel 10 Nature of Aire being to ascend, and when it meets with a sudden opposition it spreads. 1747Butler Serm. Ho. Lords Wks. 1874 II. 300 Opposition..to measures which he sees to be necessary, is itself immoral. 1771Goldsm. Hist. Eng. I. 11 They made a brave opposition against the veteran army. 1868Helps Realmah xvii. (1876) 487 A disagreeable man will often dissent from you from the mere love of opposition. 1876Mozley Univ. Serm. x. (1877) 211 A life of enmities is greatly in opposition to growth in holiness. †b. Encounter, combat. Obs.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. iii. 99 On the gentle Seuernes sedgie banke, In single Opposition hand to hand. 1604― Oth. ii. iii. 184 Tilting one at others breastes, In opposition bloody. 1610Selden Duello 2 That single opposition, which the French cal Combate seul à seul,..our English single fight. 1655E. Terry Voy. E. Ind. 48 Our Charles in this opposition made at her adversary..three hundred seventy and five great Shot. c. Fencing. See quot. 1879. (A Gallicism.)
1809Roland Fencing 77 The old system of Fencing recommends to use the left hand, when you make the flanconade as an opposition to the adversary's blade from the line of your body. 1879Encycl. Brit. IX. 70/2 In fencing, ‘opposition’ signifies the art of covering the body at the time of delivering a thrust, on that side where the foils happen to cross, in order to prevent an antagonist exchanging hits. d. in opposition, in the position of being opposed to the administration; said of one of two political parties, or a member of that party, when the other is in office. (Cf. 6.)
1793Burke Conduct Minority Wks. VII. 286 The authors..of the American war, with whom I have acted, both in office and in opposition. 1847Emerson Repr. Men, Goethe Wks. (Bohn) I. 386 How can he be honoured, when..he must sustain with shameless advocacy some bad government, or must bark all the year round, in opposition? 1895Westm. Gaz. 15 Aug. 1/2 They are in Opposition and not in office. 6. concr. a. A political party opposed to that in office; esp. the party opposed to the administration in the British Parliament or other legislative body.
1704Davenant in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. IV. 244 They who shall form Oppositions hereafter will be thought to be bribed by France. 1744M. Bishop Life & Adv. 263 There is no Senate without an Opposition, nor no Party of Men without different Opinions. 1817Evans Parl. Deb. 136 Hear, hear, from the Opposition, and laughter from the Ministerial benches. 1826J. C. Hobhouse Sp. Ho. Comm. 10 Apr. (Hansard XV. 135), It was said to be very hard on his majesty's ministers to raise objections to this proposition. For his own part, he thought it was more hard on his majesty's opposition (a laugh) to compel them to take this course. [The phrase was at once taken up and was used in the course of the same debate by Canning and Tierney.] 1850H. Martineau Hist. Peace (1877) II. v. xii. 378 These French formed the first political Opposition ever known in Canada. 1856W. H. Smyth Rom. Fam. Coins 55 He [Lentulus] relapsed to the opposition, with the appointment of proprætor in Asia. b. transf. Any party or body of opponents.
1781J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) II. lxvii. 319 Every system of philosophy, like every Minister of Great Britain, has an opposition. 1869Rogers Hist. Gleanings I. 44 In those days the Opposition was not only hungry but desperate. †7. [from oppose v. 1.] a. Inquisition, inquiry, examination. b. = apposition1. Obs.
c1540tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) I. 97 Now let us returne to the opposicion of those things which concerne the state of Brittaine. 1660Pepys Diary 9 Jan. (1825) I. 4, I rose early..and looked over and corrected my brother John's speech, which he is to make the next opposition [i.e. Apposition at St. Paul's School]. 8. attrib. (esp. in sense 6), as opposition benches, opposition cheer, opposition newspaper, opposition party, opposition spokesman, etc.
1795tr. C. P. Moritz's Trav. 60 They tell me, that at these elections when there is a strong opposition-party, there is often bloody work. 1801T. S. Surr Splendid Misery II. 14 Scowling in opposition minorities. 1815N. W. Wraxall Hist. Mem. II. 167 The Treasury Bench, as well as the Places behind it, had been for so many years occupied by Lord North and his friends, that it became difficult to recognize them again in their new Seats, dispersed over the Opposition Benches, in great coats, frocks, and boots. 1817Coleridge Biog. Lit. 89 If..he will compare the opposition newspapers. 1819Keats Cap & Bells in R. M. Milnes Life, Lett., & Lit. Remains J. Keats (1848) II. 221 I'll make the opposition-benches wince. 1824J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. I. 505 The Edinburgh Review..has really exhibited the vices, which we described as likely to characterize a periodical publication attached to the Opposition party. 1860Forster Gr. Remonstr. 27 That was in February, 1234. In April..the opposition barons were in power. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. I. iv. 197 The election of Robert..Count of Paris, as an opposition King. 1888Daily News 18 Dec. 2/6 Mr. Gladstone, who was received with Opposition cheers, said [etc.]. 1930G. B. Shaw Apple Cart p. xxiii, Nothing has any sense or reality in it except the vituperation of the opposition party. 1974Times 12 June 2/5 Mr Heseltine, Opposition spokesman on trade, said..yesterday [etc.]. 1976Hansard Commons 7 Dec. 252 The Government..cannot accept views expressed from the Opposition Benches... I object strongly to that. Ibid. 8 Dec. 570, I am far more concerned about the measures that would be enacted by the rabble sitting on the Opposition Benches if they were in Government. |