Opponent
/əˈpoʊ.nənt/noun
A person or group that competes against or resists another.
Did you know?Opponent comes from Latin opponere, meaning “to place against,” so the word began as a physical act of setting something in front of something else before becoming a human rival.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*stā-
“to stand”
Latin
Latin
ponere
“to place, put”
Latin
Latin
opponere
“to set against, oppose”
Late Latin
Latin
opponentem
“one who opposes”
14th Century
English
opponent
“one who is against another in argument, contest, or conflict”
Modern English
English
opponent
“a person or group that competes against or resists another”