SECTION IV. ANTAGONISM
1. Conditional Antagonism
#704. Difficulty.—N. difficulty; hardness &c. adj.; impracticability &c. (impossibility) 471; tough work, hard work, uphill work; hard task, Herculean task, Augean task[obs3]; task of Sisyphus, Sisyphean labor, tough job, teaser, rasper[obs3], dead lift. dilemma, embarrassment; deadlock; perplexity &c. (uncertainty) 475; intricacy; entanglement, complexity &c. 59; cross fire; awkwardness, delicacy, ticklish card to play, knot, Gordian knot, dignus vindice nodus[Lat], net, meshes, maze; coil &c. (convolution) 248; crooked path; involvement. nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point; vexed question, vexata quaestio[Lat], poser; puzzle &c. (riddle) 533; paradox; hard nut to crack, nut to crack; bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum[Lat], where the shoe pinches. nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt; critical situation, crisis; trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble. scrape, hobble, slough, quagmire, hot water, hornet's nest; sea of troubles, peck of troubles; pretty kettle of fish; pickle, stew, imbroglio, mess, ado; false position. set fast, stand, standstill; deadlock, dead set. fix, horns of a dilemma, cul de sac[Fr]; hitch; stumbling block &c (hindrance) 706. [difficult person] crab; curmudgeon. V. be difficult &c. adj.; run one hard, go against the grain, try one's patience, put one out; put to one's shifts, put to one's wit's end; go hard with one, try one; pose, perplex &c. (uncertain) 475; bother, nonplus, gravel, bring to a deadlock; be impossible &c. 471; be in the way of &c (hinder) 706. meet with difficulties; labor under difficulties; get into difficulties; plunge into difficulties; struggle with difficulties; contend with difficulties; grapple with difficulties; labor under a disadvantage; be in difficulty &c. adj. fish in troubled waters, buffet the waves, swim against the stream, scud under bare poles. Have much ado with, have a hard time of it; come to the push, come to the pinch; bear the brunt. grope in the dark, lose one's way, weave a tangled web, walk among eggs. get into a scrape &c. n.; bring a hornet's nest about one's ears; be put to one's shifts; flounder, boggle, struggle; not know which way to turn &c. (uncertain) 475; perdre son Latin[Fr]; stick at, stick in the mud, stick fast; come to a stand, come to a standstill, come to a deadlock; hold the wolf by the ears, hold the tiger by the tail. render difficult &c. adj.; enmesh, encumber, embarrass, ravel, entangle; put a spoke in the wheel &c. (hinder) 706; lead a pretty dance. Adj. difficult, not easy, hard, tough; troublesome, toilsome, irksome; operose[obs3], laborious, onerous, arduous, Herculean, formidable; sooner said than done; more easily said than done, easier said than done. [pertaining to person's disposition sensu 802] difficult to deal with, hard to deal with; ill-conditioned, crabbed, crabby; not to be handled with kid gloves, not made with rose water. awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable; intractable, stubborn &c. (obstinate) 606; perverse, refractory, plaguy[obs3], trying, thorny, rugged; knotted, knotty; invious|; pathless, trackless; labyrinthine &c (convoluted) 248; intricate, complicated &c (tangled) 59; impracticable &c. (impossible) 471; not feasible &c. 470; desperate &c. (hopeless) 859. embarrassing, perplexing &c. (uncertain) 475; delicate, ticklish, critical; beset with difficulties, full of difficulties, surrounded by difficulties, entangled by difficulties, encompassed with difficulties. under a difficulty; in a box; in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape &c.n., in deep water, in a fine pickle; in extremis; between two stools, between Scylla and Charybdis; surrounded by shoals, surrounded by breakers, surrounded by quicksands; at cross purposes; not out of the wood. reduced to straits; hard pressed, sorely pressed; run hard; pinched, put to it, straitened; hard up, hard put to it, hard set; put to one's shifts; puzzled, at a loss, &c (uncertain) 475; at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a standstill; graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground; stuck fast, set fast; up a tree, at bay, aux abois[Fr], driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall; au bout de son Latin; out of one's depth; thrown out. accomplished with difficulty; hard-fought, hard-earned. Adv. with difficulty, with much ado; barely, hardly &c. adj.; uphill; against the stream, against the grain; d rebours[Fr]; invita Minerva[Lat]; in the teeth of; at a pinch, upon a pinch; at long odds, against long odds. Phr. "ay there's the rub" [Hamlet]; hic labor hoc opus [Lat][Vergil]; things are come to a pretty pass, ab inconvenienti[Lat]; ad astra per aspera[Lat]; acun chemin de fleurs ne conduit a la gloire[Fr].
#705. Facility.—N. facility, ease; easiness &c. adj.; capability; feasibility &c. (practicability) 470; flexibility, pliancy &c. 324; smoothness &c. 255. plain sailing, smooth sailing, straight sailing; mere child's play, holiday task; cinch [U.S.]. smooth water, fair wind; smooth royal road; clear coast, clear stage; tabula rasa[Lat]; full play &c. (freedom) 748. disencumbrance[obs3], disentanglement; deoppilation|!; permission &c. 760. simplicity, lack of complication. V. be easy &c. adj.; go on smoothly, run smoothly; have full play &c. n.; go on all fours, run on all fours; obey the helm, work well. flow with the stream, swim with the stream, drift with the stream, go with the stream, flow with the tide, drift with the tide; see one's way; have all one's own way, have the game in one's own hands; walk over the course, win at a canter; make light of, make nothing of, make no bones of. be at home in, make it look easy, do it with one's eyes closed, do it in one's sleep &c. (skillful) 698. render easy &c. adj.; facilitate, smooth, ease; popularize; lighten, lighten the labor; free, clear; disencumber, disembarrass, disentangle, disengage; deobstruct[obs3], unclog, extricate, unravel; untie the knot, cut the knot; disburden, unload, exonerate, emancipate, free from, deoppilate|!; humor &c. (aid) 707; lubricate &c. 332; relieve &c. 834. leave a hole to creep out of, leave a loophole, leave the matter open; give the reins to, give full play, give full swing; make way for; open the door to, open the way, prepare the ground, smooth the ground, clear the ground, open the way, open the path, open the road; pave the way, bridge over; permit &c. 760. Adj. easy, facile; feasible &c (practicable) 470; easily managed, easily accomplished; within reach, accessible, easy of access, for the million, open to. manageable, wieldy; towardly[obs3], tractable; submissive; yielding, ductile; suant[obs3]; pliant &c. (soft) 324; glib, slippery; smooth &c. 255; on friction wheels, on velvet. unembarrassed, disburdened, unburdened, disencumbered, unencumbered, disembarrassed; exonerated; unloaded, unobstructed, untrammeled; unrestrained &c. (free) 748; at ease, light. [able to do easily] at home with; quite at home; in one's element, in smooth water; skillful &c. 698;accustomed &c. 613. Adv. easily &c. adj.; readily, smoothly, swimmingly, on easy terms, single-handed. Phr. touch and go.
2. Active Antagonism
#706. Hindrance.—N. prevention, preclusion, obstruction, stoppage; embolus, embolism [medical]; infarct [medical]; interruption, interception, interclusion|; hindrance, impedition|; retardment[obs3], retardation; embarrassment, oppilation|!; coarctation[obs3], stricture, restriction; restraint &c. 751; inhibition &c. 761; blockade &c. (closure) 261. interference, interposition; obtrusion; discouragement, discountenance. impediment, let, obstacle, obstruction, knot, knag[obs3]; check, hitch, contretemps, screw loose, grit in the oil. bar, stile, barrier; [barrier to vehicles] turnstile, turnpike; gate, portcullis. beaver dam; trocha[obs3]; barricade &c. (defense) 717; wall, dead wall, sea wall, levee breakwater, groyne[obs3]; bulkhead, block, buffer; stopper &c. 263; boom, dam, weir, burrock[obs3]. drawback, objection; stumbling-block, stumbling-stone; lion in the path, snag; snags and sawyers. encumbrance, incumbrance[obs3]; clog, skid, shoe, spoke; drag, drag chain, drag weight; stay, stop; preventive, prophylactic; load, burden, fardel[obs3], onus, millstone round one's neck, impedimenta; dead weight; lumber, pack; nightmare, Ephialtes[obs3], incubus, old man of the sea; remora. difficulty &c. 704; insuperable &c. 471; obstacle; estoppel [Law]; ill wind; head wind &c. (opposition) 708; trammel, tether &c. (means of restraint) 752; hold back, counterpoise. [person who hinders] damper, wet blanket, hinderer, marplot, killjoy; party pooper[coll]; party crasher, interloper. trail of a red herring; opponent &c. 710. V. hinder, impede, filibuster [U.S.], impedite[obs3], embarrass. keep off, stave off, ward off; obviate; avert, antevert|; turn aside, draw off, prevent, forefend, nip in the bud; retard, slacken, check, let; counteract, countercheck[obs3]; preclude, debar, foreclose, estop[Law]; inhibit &c. 761; shackle &c. (restrain) 751; restrict. obstruct, stop, stay, bar, bolt, lock; block, block up; choke off; belay, barricade; block the way, bar the way, stop the way; forelay[obs3]; dam up &c. (close) 261; put on the brake &c. n.; scotch the wheel, lock the wheel, put a spoke in the wheel; put a stop to &c. 142; traverse, contravene; interrupt, intercept; oppose &c. 708; hedge in, hedge round; cut off; inerclude|. interpose, interfere, intermeddle &c. 682. cramp, hamper; clog, clog the wheels; cumber; encumber, incumber; handicap; choke; saddle with, load with; overload, lay; lumber, trammel, tie one's hands, put to inconvenience; incommode, discommode; discompose; hustle, corner, drive into a corner. run foul of, fall foul of; cross the path of, break in upon. thwart, frustrate, disconcert, balk, foil; faze, feaze[obs3], feeze [obs3][U.S.]; baffle, snub, override, circumvent; defeat &c. 731; spike guns &c. (render useless) 645; spoil, mar, clip the wings of; cripple &c. (injure) 659; put an extinguisher on; damp; dishearten &c (dissuade) 616; discountenance, throw cold water on, spoil sport; lay a wet blanket, throw a wet blanket on; cut the ground from under one, take the wind out of one's sails, undermine; be in the way of, stand in the way of; act as a drag; hang like a millstone round one's neck. Adj. hindering &c. v.; obstructive, obstruent[obs3]; impeditive[obs3], impedient[obs3]; intercipient|; prophylactic &c. (remedial) 662; impedimentary. in the way of, unfavorable; onerous, burdensome; cumbrous, cumbersome; obtrusive. hindered &c v.; windbound[obs3], waterlogged, heavy laden; hard pressed. unassisted &c. (see assist &c. 707); single-handed, alone; deserted &c. 624. Phr. occurrent nubes[Lat].
#707. Aid.—N. aid, aidance[obs3]; assistance, help, opitulation|, succor; support, lift, advance, furtherance, promotion; coadjuvancy &c. (cooperation) 709[obs3]. patronage, championship, countenance, favor, interest, advocacy. sustentation, subvention, alimentation, nutrition, nourishment; eutrophy; manna in the wilderness; food &c. 298; means &c. 632. ministry, ministration; subministration[obs3]; accommodation. relief, rescue; help at a dead lift; supernatural aid; deus ex machina[Lat]. supplies, reinforcements, reenforcements[obs3], succors, contingents, recruits; support &c. (physical) 215; adjunct, ally &c. (helper) 711. V. aid, assist, help, succor, lend one's aid; come to the aid &c. n. of; contribute, subscribe to; bring aid, give aid, furnish aid, afford aid, supply aid &c. n.; give a helping hand, stretch a hand, lend a helping hand, lend a hand, bear a helping hand, hold out a hand, hold out a helping hand; give one a life, give one a cast, give one a turn; take by the hand, take in tow; help a lame dog over a stile, lend wings to. relieve, rescue; set up, set agoing[obs3], set on one's legs; bear through, pull through; give new life to, be the making of; reinforce, reenforce, recruit; set forward, put forward, push forward; give a lift, give a shove, give an impulse to; promote, further, forward, advance expedite, speed, quicken, hasten. support, sustain, uphold, prop, hold up, bolster. cradle, nourish; nurture, nurse, dry nurse, suckle, put out to nurse; manure, cultivate, force; foster, cherish, foment; feed the flame, fan the flame. serve; do service to, tender to, pander to; administer to, subminister to[obs3], minister to; tend, attend, wait on; take care of &c. 459; entertain; smooth the bed of death. oblige, accommodate, consult the wishes of; humor, cheer, encourage. second, stand by; back, back up; pay the piper, abet; work for, make interest for, stick up for, take up the cudgels for; take up the cause of, espouse the cause of, adopt the cause of; advocate, beat up for recruits, press into the service; squire, give moral support to, keep in countenance, countenance, patronize; lend oneself to, lend one's countenance to; smile upon, shine upon; favor, befriend, take in hand, enlist under the banners of; side with &c. (cooperate) 709. be of use to; subserve &c. (instrument) 631; benefit &c. 648; render a service &c. (utility) 644; conduce &c. (tend) 176. Adj. aiding &c. v.; auxiliary, adjuvant, helpful; coadjuvant &c. 709[obs3]; subservient, ministrant, ancillary, accessory, subsidiary. at one's beck, at one's beck and call; friendly, amicable, favorable, propitious, well-disposed; neighborly; obliging &c. (benevolent) 906. Adv. with the aid, by the aid &c. of; on behalf of, in behalf of; in aid of, in the service of, in the name of, in favor of, in furtherance of; on account of; for the sake of, on the part of; non obstante[Lat]. Int. help! save us! to the rescue! Phr. alterum alterius auxilio eget [Lat][Sallust]; "God befriend us as our cause is just" [Henry IV]; at your service.
#708. Opposition.—N.. opposition, antagonism; oppugnancy[obs3], oppugnation[obs3]; impugnation|!; contrariety; contravention; counteraction &c. 179; counterplot. cross fire, undercurrent, head wind. clashing, collision, conflict. competition, two of a trade, rivalry, emulation, race. absence of aid &c. 708; resistance &c. 719; restraint &c. 751; hindrance &c. 706. V. oppose, counteract, run counter to; withstand &c. (resist) 719; control &c. (restrain) 751; hinder &c. 706; antagonize, oppugn, fly in the face of, go dead against, kick against, fall afoul of, run afoul of; set against, pit against; face, confront, cope with; make a stand, make a dead set against; set oneself against, set one's face against; protest against, vote against, raise one's voice against; disfavor, turn one's back upon; set at naught, slap in the face, slam the door in one's face. be at cross purposes; play at cross purposes; counterwork[obs3], countermine; thwart, overthwart[obs3]; work against, undermine. stem, breast, encounter; stem the tide, breast the tide, stem the current, stem the flood; buffet the waves; beat up against, make head against; grapple with; kick against the pricks &c. (resist) 719; contend &c. 720; do battle &c. (warfare) 722 -with, do battle against. contradict, contravene; belie; go against, run against, beat against, militate against; come in conflict with. emulate &c. (compete) 720; rival, spoil one's trade. Adj. opposing, opposed &c.v.; adverse, antagonistic; contrary &c. 14; at variance &c. 24; at issue, at war with. unfavorable, unfriendly; hostile, inimical, cross, unpropitious. in hostile array, front to front, with crossed bayonets, at daggers drawn; up in arms; resistant &c. 719. competitive, emulous. Adv. against, versus, counter to, in conflict with, at cross purposes. against the grain, against the current, against the stream, against the wind, against the tide; with a headwind; with the wind ahead, with the wind in one's teeth. in spite, in despite, in defiance; in the way, in the teeth of, in the face of; across; athwart, overthwart[obs3]; where the shoe pinches; in spite of one's teeth. though &c. 30; even; quand meme[Fr]; per contra. Phr. nitor in adversum[Lat].
#709. Cooperation.—N. cooperation; coadjuvancy[obs3], coadjutancy[obs3]; coagency[obs3], coefficiency[obs3]; concert, concurrence, complicity, participation; union &c. 43; additivity, combination &c. 48; collusion. association, alliance, colleagueship[obs3], joint stock, copartnership[obs3]; cartel; confederation &c. (party) 712; coalition, fusion; a long pull a strong pull and a pull all together; logrolling, freemasonry. unanimity &c. (assent) 488; esprit de corps, party spirit; clanship[obs3], partisanship; concord &c 714. synergy, coaction[obs3]. V. cooperate, concur; coact[obs3], synergize. conduce &c. 178; combine, unite one's efforts; keep together, draw together, pull together, club together, hand together, hold together, league together, band together, be banded together; pool; stand shoulder to shoulder, put shoulder to shoulder; act in concert, join forces, fraternize, cling to one another, conspire, concert, lay one's heads together; confederate, be in league with; collude, understand one another, play into the hands of, hunt in couples. side with, take side with, go along with, go hand in hand with, join hands with, make common cause with, strike in with, unite with, join with, mix oneself up with, take part with, cast in one's lot with; join partnership, enter into partnership with; rally round, follow the lead of; come to, pass over to, come into the views of; be in the same boat, row in the same boat; sail in the same boat; sail on the same tack. be a party to, lend oneself to; chip in; participate; have a hand in, have a finger in the pie; take part in, bear part in; second &c. (aid) 707; take the part of, play the game of; espouse a cause, espouse a quarrel. Adj. cooperating &c. v.; in cooperation &c.n., in league &c. (party) 712; coadjuvant[obs3], coadjutant[obs3]; dyed in the wool; cooperative; additive; participative; coactive[obs3], synergetic, synergistic. favorable &c. 707 to; unopposed &c. 708. Adv. as one &c. (unanimously) 488; shoulder to shoulder; synergistically; cooperatively. Phr. due teste valgono piu che una sola [It].
#710. Opponent.—N. opponent, antagonist, adversary; adverse party,
opposition; enemy &c. 891; the other side; assailant.
oppositionist, obstructive; brawler, wrangler, brangler[obs3],
disputant; filibuster [U.S.], obstructionist.
malcontent; Jacobin, Fenian; demagogue, reactionist[obs3].
rival, competitor.
bete noir[Fr].