<B>opposite number,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the person who has a similar or corresponding position, duty, or the like, to another; a person's counterpart. </DL>
<A NAME="opposition">
<B>opposition, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>action against; resistance. <BR> <I>Ex. There was some opposition to the workers' request for higher wages. The mob offered opposition to the police.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a being opposed or adverse. <BR> <I>Ex. Their opposition to the new law is surprising.</I> (SYN) antagonism, hostility. <DD><B> 2. </B>contrast. <BR> <I>Ex. high in opposition to low. His views are in opposition to mine. Between him and Darcy there was a very steady friendship, in spite of great opposition of character (Jane Austen).</I> (SYN) antithesis. <DD><B> 3a. </B>Also, <B>Opposition.</B> a political party opposed to the party that is in power. <BR> <I>Ex. On both occasions the Opposition managed to get themselves on the wrong foot (Economist).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>any party or body of opponents. <DD><B> 4. </B>a placing opposite. <DD><B> 5. </B>opposite direction or position. <BR> <I>Ex. Before mine eyes in opposition sits Grim Death (Milton).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Astronomy.) the position of two heavenly bodies when they are directly opposite each other and their longitude differs by 180 degrees, especially such a position of a heavenly body with respect to the sun. When Mars is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun, it is said to be in opposition. The moon is in opposition with the sun when it is a full moon. <DD><B> 7. </B>(Logic.) <DD><B> a. </B>the relation between two propositions that have the same subject and predicate but differ in quantity or quality, or in both. <DD><B> b. </B>the relation between two propositions that differ in quantity and quality, so that from truth or falsity of one, truth or falsity of the other may be determined. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with an opposition. <BR> <I>Ex. opposition forces, an opposition leader.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="oppositional">
<B>oppositional, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with opposition or opponents. </DL>
<A NAME="oppositionist">
<B>oppositionist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a member of the opposition. </DL>
<A NAME="oppositive">
<B>oppositive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> characterized by opposition; adversative. </DL>
<A NAME="oppress">
<B>oppress, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to govern harshly; keep down unjustly or by cruelty. <BR> <I>Ex. A good government will not oppress the people.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to weigh down; lie heavily on; burden. <BR> <I>Ex. A sense of trouble ahead oppressed my spirits.</I> (SYN) overburden, crush. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) to press down by force; trample down. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Obsolete.) to put down; suppress. </DL>
<A NAME="oppression">
<B>oppression, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or fact of oppressing; burdening. <BR> <I>Ex. The oppression of the people by the nobles caused the war.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the state of being oppressed or burdened. <BR> <I>Ex. They fought against oppression.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>cruel or unjust treatment. <BR> <I>Ex. Oppression of the poor often leads to revolution. Our camp rules were so strict we considered them unnecessary oppression.</I> (SYN) tyranny, persecution, despotism. <DD><B> 4. </B>a heavy, weary feeling of the body or mind. <BR> <I>Ex. The very hot and humid weather caused a feeling of great oppression in us all.</I> (SYN) weariness, lassitude, depression. </DL>
<A NAME="oppressive">
<B>oppressive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>hard to bear; burdensome. <BR> <I>Ex. The great heat was oppressive. ... an oppressive modesty that found vent in endless apologies (Elizabeth Gaskell).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>harsh; severe; unjust. <BR> <I>Ex. Oppressive measures were taken to crush the rebellion.</I> (SYN) tyrannical. adv. <B>oppressively.</B> noun <B>oppressiveness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="oppressor">
<B>oppressor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who is cruel or unjust to people under him. (SYN) despot, tyrant. </DL>
<A NAME="opprobrious">
<B>opprobrious, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>expressing scorn, reproach, or abuse. <BR> <I>Ex. "Coward," "liar," and "thief" are opprobrious names.</I> (SYN) vituperative, abusive. <DD><B> 2. </B>disgraceful; shameful; infamous. <BR> <I>Ex. this dark opprobrious den of shame (Milton).</I> adv. <B>opprobriously.</B> noun <B>opprobriousness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="opprobrium">
<B>opprobrium, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the disgrace or reproach caused by shameful conduct; infamy; scorn; abuse. <BR> <I>Ex. Because I had turned against him ... I was loaded with general opprobrium (Charlotte Bronte). There might very well arise the ill-considered compromise such as made the mere words "Munich" and "Yalta" terms of opprobrium (Wall Street Journal).</I> (SYN) odium, disrepute. <DD><B> 2. </B>a cause or object of such reproach. <BR> <I>Ex. The village drunkard was the opprobrium of the community.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="oppugn">
<B>oppugn, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to call in question (as rights, merits, or judgment). <DD><B> 2. </B>to dispute (as a statement or belief). <BR> <I>Ex. When Law and Conscience ... seem to oppugn one another (Thomas Hobbes).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) to attack in fight or war. noun <B>oppugner.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="oppugnation">
<B>oppugnation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Rare.) the act of oppugning; opposition. </DL>
<A NAME="ops">
<B>Ops, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Roman Mythology.) the wife of Saturn and goddess of plenty, identified by the Greeks with Rhea. </DL>
<A NAME="opsimath">
<B>opsimath, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who begins to learn or study late in life. <BR> <I>Ex. He is what the Greeks called an opsimath; not ignorant, but a laggard in learning (Saturday Review).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="opsin">
<B>opsin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a protein formed in the retina, one of the constituents of the visual pigments, such as rhodopsin. </DL>
<A NAME="opsonic">
<B>opsonic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with opsonin. </DL>
<A NAME="opsonicindex">
<B>opsonic index,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the ratio of bacteria destroyed by the phagocytes in the blood serum of a given individual to the number destroyed in normal blood serum. </DL>
<A NAME="opsonification">
<B>opsonification, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act of opsonifying. <DD><B> 2. </B>the state of being opsonified. </DL>
<A NAME="opsonify">
<B>opsonify, </B>transitive verb, <B>-fied,</B> <B>-fying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to make (bacteria) more susceptible to destruction by phagocytes by the action of opsonins. </DL>
<A NAME="opsonin">
<B>opsonin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a substance in blood serum that weakens bacteria and other foreign cells so that the phagocytes can destroy them more easily. </DL>
<A NAME="opsonize">
<B>opsonize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-nized,</B> <B>-nizing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to increase the opsonins in, as by immunization. <DD><B> 2. </B>to make (bacteria) more susceptible to destruction by leucocytes. noun <B>opsonization.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="opster">
<B>opster, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Informal.) an op artist. </DL>
<A NAME="opt">
<B>opt, </B>intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to make a choice; choose or favor. <BR> <I>Ex. The class opted to go on a field trip. British legion women ... opted to ban knitting at all conferences on the ground that it stops concentration (Punch).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>opt for,</B> </I>to decide to choose; favor; choose. <BR> <I>Ex. Those colonies which choose to stay within the French community ... will have the chance to change their minds later and opt for independence (Observer).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>opt out,</B> </I>to choose to back out; withdraw; resign. <BR> <I>Ex. Union members pay a political levy, part of which goes to the party, unless they specifically opt out (New York Times). The children actually provide a useful excuse to opt out of tasks which ... she is usually expected to assume (Manchester Guardian Weekly).</I> </DL>
<B>optative, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Grammar.) <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>expressing a wish. "Oh! that I had wings to fly!" is an optative expression. <DD><B> 2a. </B>(in Greek and certain other languages) having to do with the verbal mood that expresses desire, wish, or the like. <DD><B> b. </B>having to do with distinctive verb forms with such meaning or function. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the optative mood. <DD><B> 2. </B>a verb in the optative mood. adv. <B>optatively.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="optic">
<B>optic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of the eye; of the sense of sight. See also <B>optic nerve.</B> <DD><I>noun </I> (Informal.) the eye. <BR> <I>Ex. I concluded that, by the position of their optics, their sight was so directed downward, that they did not readily see objects that were above them (Daniel Defoe).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="optical">
<B>optical, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of the eye or the sense of sight; visual. <BR> <I>Ex. Being near-sighted is an optical defect. The strange optical illusion of that straight road seeming to grow narrower in the distance made it look as if two cars could not pass one another.</I> (SYN) ocular. <DD><B> 2. </B>made to assist sight. <BR> <I>Ex. Telescopes and microscopes are optical instruments.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>of vision and light in relation to each other. <DD><B> 4. </B>having to do with optics. <DD><B> 5. </B>of or having to do with op art. <BR> <I>Ex. Leaving aside the question of the contemporary fashion for "optical" painting, Vasarely's work shows--indeed it largely created--two important trends in abstract art today (New Scientist).</I> adv. <B>optically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="opticalactivity">
<B>optical activity,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Chemistry.) the ability of a compound to turn the plane of vibration of polarized light. </DL>
