to go against
206
3.3
- phrasal verb
:
oponerse a
- I went against their rules.
- go against the grain
- the vote went against
- go against the wishes
It was just how dare you go against your president.
- It was just how dare you go against your president.
- So, you know, that could go against Mitchell's point of view.
- Sometimes it's fun to go against type, you know.
- It just went against what I was trying to go for.
- That's actually going against everything in your being in nature.
- She's not actually going against a dozen men.
- If you debate it, then you're you're going against this science.
- Well, then anger is going against our nature, as he says.
- And they didn't like the fact that I didn't go against peers.
- And you know, you could, you could go against nature raising your children.
- Growth is a consequence of going against gravity.
Examples
-
If you go against your father's wishes, we'll continue living in debt, at the mercy of everyone we owe.
-
If you go against your father's wishes, we'll continue living in debt, at the mercy of everyone we owe.
-
No court is going to support anything that goes against the freedom of speech.
-
That goes against everything that we stand for.
-
Nevertheless, he went against the will of god and against the church.
-
It goes against everything we stand for.
-
And so I went against him and said, you won't defeat me.
-
To become a philosopher is to deaden one's heart to what goes against reason.
Academic text (2001) -
I do not intend to go against his final wishes if I can avoid it.
-
That goes against everything that we stand for.
Synonyms
∞
2.9
To be against something and try to stop it
627
4.4
Break a law, rule, agreement, or promise
311
2.2
Act against authority, rules or change
178
3.7
Openly refuse to obey someone or seem to resist a force like time
77
3.8
To start opposing someone you once supported
46
4.5
To break a rule, agreement, or promise
45
6.7
To resist what most people in power want
40
3.6
To show in public that you strongly disagree with something
22
3.7
To resist a person or rule that treats people unfairly
17
7.6
Openly oppose something, often against common sense or tradition
12
7.8
To do something that breaks a law, rule, or your idea of right and wrong
3
6.9
To do something different from what most people do
To break a law, rule, contract, or promise
Antonyms
How Opposed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to oppose' is directly and transparently derivable from combining 'go' (to move or act) with 'against' (in opposition); together they indicate acting in opposition to something. This compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common (e.g., Spanish 'ir en contra de', French 'aller à l'encontre de') and would be predictable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
The phrasal verb go against comes from the picture of go and against: moving the opposite way, like walking into a strong wind or into a crowd. When you literally go against something you meet resistance, so the phrase means 'to oppose', 'to resist', or 'not follow' a rule or opinion.