antagonize, v.
(ænˈtægənaɪz)
[ad. Gr. ἀνταγωνίζ-εσθαι to struggle against, vie with, rival; f. ἀντί against + ἀγωνίζ-εσθαι to struggle, f. ἀγών a contest: see agon.]
† 1. trans. To compete with, vie with, rival. Obs.
| 1634 T. Herbert Trav. 211 The Dodo which for shape and rarenesse may antigonize the Phœnix of Arabia. |
2. To act in antagonism to, struggle against, contend with, oppose actively.
| 1742 Bailey, Antagonize, to act the Part of an Opponent in arguing, to oppose, to contradict. 1773 in Johnson, and 1818 in Todd [only from Bailey]. 1818 Keats Endym. (1851) 81 Like one huge Python Antagonising Boreas. 1865 Masson Rec. Brit. Philos. 48 A so-called Scottish Philosophy of Common Sense to antagonize all this mass of English and imported Sensationalism. |
b. In England, antagonizing forces must be of the same kind, but in the political phraseology of U.S. a person may antagonize (i.e. oppose) a measure.
| 1882 Boston Evg. Transcr. 4/3 Ex-Secretary Windom did not hesitate openly to antagonize ex-Secretary Sherman's bill. Ibid. 8/5 The Democrats on the committee have given notice of a determination to antagonize this and all other bills for the admission of Territories as States. |
3. Phys. To counteract the action of (the opposite muscle).
| 1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 65/1 These fibres..have a constant tendency to antagonize the adductor muscle. 1860 Lewes Phys. Com. Life II. x. 280 The body is balanced by an incessant shifting of the muscles, one group antagonising the other. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life 56 The ligament divaricates, when not antagonized by the adductor muscles. |
4. Hence: To counteract or neutralize the action of (any force).
| 1833 Sir J. Herschel Astr. viii. 285 Perpetual contest between conservative and destructive powers..so antagonizing one another as to prevent the latter from ever acquiring an uncontrollable ascendancy. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life (1861) i. 17 If Fate follows and limits power, power attends and antagonizes Fate. 1861 F. H. Ramadge Cur. Consump. 49 The tumefaction of latent catarrh..is sufficient to antagonize consumption. |
5. intr. To act in antagonism.
| 1861 Hulme Moquin-Tandon ii. vi. i. 318 These organs..act from above downwards, but without antagonizing. |
6. trans. To render antagonistic, make an antagonist.
| 1882 Echo 20 Feb. 2/4 The very doing of this work..antagonises certain sections of the people whose interests are supposed to be prejudiced by legislative changes. |
______________________________
Add: [4.] b. Physiol. To inhibit or interfere with the action or effect of (a biologically active substance).
| 1875 A. S. Taylor Poisons (ed. 3) viii. 52 Attempts have been made..to antagonize animal poisons, such as that of rabies. 1906 W. E. Dixon Man. Pharmacol. xxxii. 438 Physostigmine..is..antagonised by the atropine group of drugs. 1949 H. W. Florey et al. Antibiotics II. xxi. 812 Glutathione and thiothreonine antagonized the anti-bacterial action of penicillin. 1969 Times 7 July 5/7 Drugs known to have an effect in reducing inflammation, presumably because they antagonize various of the substances released in the lungs. 1990 Jrnl. Developmental Physiol. XIV. 29/2 Treatment..with indomethacin has been shown to antagonize the ethanol-induced suppression of fetal breathing movements. |