# against

Pronunciation: say "uh-GENST" /əˈɡɛnst/

## Preposition

1. Opposed to a person, plan or idea, or actively working to defeat or prevent it. The opposite is for.
   - Simple: Not agreeing with something, or trying to stop it.
   - _He campaigned against the company for ten years._
   - _I'd bet against them finishing on time._
2. Competing with someone as an opponent in a game, race, election or fight, the sense that a match report means by versus.
   - Simple: Playing or fighting on the other side from someone.
   - _She is running against two longtime council members in the November election._
   - _The team has not won against its local rivals in five years._
3. Touching or close beside a surface, especially leaning on it or supported by it.
   - Simple: Touching something, often leaning on it.
   - _The tired puppy fell asleep with its back pressed against the couch cushion._
   - _She leaned her bike against the fence while she ran into the store._
4. Giving protection from something harmful, such as weather, disease or a danger that has not yet arrived.
   - Simple: Used for keeping something bad away, like rain, cold, or illness.
   - _Vaccines protect children against measles and other serious diseases._
   - _The old farmhouse had heavy wooden shutters against the winter storms._
5. Measured, judged or weighed in comparison with something else, so that a difference or standard becomes clear or one amount offsets another.
   - Simple: Compared with something, or weighed up next to it so one amount balances another.
   - _The small savings must be weighed against the cost of retraining every employee._
   - _Critics evaluated the novel against a narrow political standard._
6. In conflict with a rule, law, principle or signal, so that the action breaks or ignores it.
   - Simple: Not allowed by a rule, a law, or what you believe.
   - _Accepting gifts from suppliers goes against company policy._
   - _We crossed against the red light because no car was in sight._
7. Striking or pressing on something with force, in physical opposition to it rather than simply resting on it.
   - Simple: Hitting something or pushing on it hard, like rain on a window.
   - _Hail rattled against the tin roof for an hour._
   - _The boat's hull bumped against the pier._
8. Seen or shown with something as a background, so that one thing is outlined by the other behind it.
   - Simple: Seen with something behind it as a background, so the shape stands out.
   - _The city's towers stood out sharply against a backdrop of snowy mountains._
   - _Dark birds moved against the pale morning sky._
10. Moving or acting in the opposite direction to a flow, such as a current, a wind or a trend.
   - Simple: Moving the opposite way to something, like water or wind.
   - _Salmon fight their way upstream against the river's flow to reach their spawning grounds._
   - _The company grew against the trend of the whole market._
9. Charged to or claimed from a sum, an account or a person, as a tax, fee or claim is.
   - Simple: Taken from or charged to a sum of money.
   - _The bank placed a lien against the property after the payments stopped._
   - _A claim was filed against the estate._
11. In exchange for something, so that one thing is redeemed, credited or set off in return for another.
   - Simple: Used to pay for something, or traded for it.
   - _The old laptop was accepted as a trade-in against the cost of a new one._
   - _The deposit will be credited against your final bill._
12. In preparation for a future time or event, so that something is ready when that moment arrives.
   - Simple: Ready for a time or event that is coming.
   - _Farmers stored grain and firewood against the long winter ahead._
   - _She put a little money aside each month against the day the car would need repairs._
13. In betting, describing odds on which an outcome is less likely to happen than not. The opposite is on.
   - Simple: Used with betting odds when winning is less likely than losing.
   - _Few gamblers backed the outsider at twenty-to-one against, but it won by a length._
   - _Bookmakers had the champion at evens and the challenger at six-to-one against._
14. In film deals, joining a smaller sum paid up front to a larger total that includes it, with the balance due only if the movie is made or starts filming.
   - Simple: Paid now as part of a bigger total, with the rest paid later if a movie gets made.
   - _Her agent negotiated $40,000 against $250,000, with the balance due on the first day of shooting._
   - _The studio bought the script for $50,000 against $400,000, with the rest due when filming starts._

## Preposition

15. Exposed to something such as weather or danger, without protection from it. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Open to things like weather or danger, with nothing to protect you from them.

## Conjunction

16. By the time that something happens, or in readiness for the moment when it does. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An old use meaning 'by the time that' something happens.

## Origin

This comes from Middle English ayenes, agenes, or againes ('in opposition to'), a southern form of agen or directly from again, with an adverbial genitive -es ending. The extra -t was added around 1350, probably through confusion with the superlative ending -est. It is related to Dutch tegen, German gegen, and Icelandic gegn.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/against (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).