oppositive, a. (n.)
(əˈpɒzɪtɪv)
[f. opposit-, ppl. stem of L. oppōnĕre to oppose, oppone + -ive; cf. F. oppositif, -ive (Littré).]
† 1. = opposite A. 1, 1 b. Obs.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. vi. 281 A little foure-squared Roome, oppositiue to the deualling side of..Syon. 1857 Mayne Expos. Lex., Oppositīvus, applied to stamens when situated opposite the divisions of a simple perianth, as in the Lilium; or to a corol, as in the Primula;..to petals when placed before the divisions of the calyx, as in the Berberis: oppositive. |
2. Characterized by opposing or contrasting; expressive of contrariety or antithesis; adversative.
| 1622 [implied in oppositively]. 1634 Bp. Hall Contempl., N.T. iv. Prosec. Transfig., Not without some oppositive comparison; not Moses, not Elias, but this: Moses and Elias were servants; this a Sonne. 1845 Stoddart Grammar in Encycl. Metrop. I. 50/1 In most Languages there are negative or oppositive verbs, as volo or nolo in Latin; to do and undo in English; fier and mefier in French. 1865 Lightfoot Galatians (1874) 76/1 Εἰ µή seems always to retain its proper exceptive sense, and is not simply oppositive. |
3. Inclined to opposition, contentious. rare.
| 1865 G. Macdonald A. Forbes lxxxiii. 394 Neither was the duty so unpleasant to Thomas's oppositive nature. |
† B. n. = opposite B. 2. Obs. rare—1.
| 1651 Stowe's Chaucer, Astrol. 268 b/2 Then haste thou East and West, and per consequens the oppositife, that is Southe and North. [Cf. Astrol. ii. §38.] |
Hence oˈppositively adv., in an oppositive manner; also oˈppositiveness.
| 1622 T. Stoughton Chr. Sacrif. xv. 205 The will of God..is here said to be perfect. This also I understand oppositiuely and comparatiuely. Oppositiuely, because the old Testament was imperfect: comparatiuely, because this therefore is more perfect. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter iii. 18 Oppositively, as it is opposed to that external duration after this world, when time shall be no more. 1824 Blackw. Mag. XV. 225, I had the organ of ‘oppositiveness’. |