adverse

English Online Dictionary. What means adverse‎? What does adverse mean?

English

Etymology

First attested around 1374, from Old French avers (French adverse), from Latin adversus (“turned against”), past participle of advertere, from ad- (“to”) + vertere (“to turn”). See also versus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæd.və(ɹ)s/, /ədˈvɜ(ɹ)s/
• Rhymes: -ɜ(ɹ)s

Adjective

adverse (comparative more adverse or (rare or nonstandard) adverser, superlative most adverse or (rare or nonstandard) adversest)

1. Unfavorable; antagonistic in purpose or effect; hostile; actively opposing one's interests or wishes; contrary to one's welfare; acting against; working in an opposing direction.

   adverse criticism

   adverse weather
2. Opposed; contrary; opposing one's interests or desire.

3. (not comparable) Opposite; confronting.

Usage notes

Adverse is sometimes confused with averse, though the meanings are somewhat different. Adverse most often refers to things, denoting something that is in opposition to someone's interests — something one might refer to as an adversity or adversary — (adverse winds; an attitude adverse to our ideals). Averse usually refers to people, and implies one has a distaste, disinclination, or aversion toward something (a leader averse to war; an investor averse to risk taking). Averse is most often used with "to" in a construction like "I am averse to…". Adverse shows up less often in this type of construction, describing a person instead of a thing, and should carry a meaning of "actively opposed to" rather than "has an aversion to".

Antonyms

• proverse

Derived terms

Related terms

• adversary
• adversative
• adversity
• versus

Translations

See also

• averse

Anagrams

• Deavers, Deveras, aversed, dreaves, evaders, re-saved, resaved, veredas

French

Etymology

From Latin adversus (“against, opposite”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ad.vɛʁs/

Adjective

adverse (plural adverses)

1. adverse

Further reading

• “adverse” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.
• “adverse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Paronyms

• averse

Anagrams

• déversa

Latin

Participle

adverse

1. vocative masculine singular of adversus

References

• “adverse”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• adverse in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Spanish

Verb

adverse

1. inflection of adversar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative