Adversarial
Adversarial adjective - Marked by opposition or ill will.
Rival and adversarial are semantically related. In some cases you can use "Rival" instead an adjective "Adversarial".
Nearby Word: adversary
Rival
Rival noun - One that is equal to another in status, achievement, or value.
Adversarial and rival are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Adversarial" instead an adjective "Rival".
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
- hostile and adversarial
- hostile and rival
- antagonistic and adversarial
- antagonistic and rival
- inimical and adversarial
- inimical and rival
- competitive and adversarial
- competitive and rival
- adverse and adversarial
- adverse and rival
- antipathetic and adversarial
- antipathetic and rival
- opposed and adversarial
- opposed and rival
Both words in one sentence
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Bad Boss: It's stated in the series and especially the books that Hacker and the then Prime Minister had a somewhat adversarial relationship (Hacker having run a rival contender's in-party campaign for nomination as Prime Minister and while they lost to the PM, he still holds a grudge).
Source: Series / Yes, Minister
Cite this Source
Rival and Adversarial. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 22, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/adversarial/rival
Adversarial & Rival. N.p., 2016. Web. 22 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/adversarial/rival>.
Rival or Adversarial. 2016. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/adversarial/rival.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "adversarial" and "rival" have occurred on timeline