to speak against
15
4.2
- phrasal verb
- /spiːk əˈɡɛnst/
:
oponerse a
- Rep. William W. Gordon from Chatham County spoke against the bill, arguing that elections were expensive.
He's expressly told if you speak against me, it's not going to end well for you.
- He's expressly told if you speak against me, it's not going to end well for you.
- And he is, he's expressly told if you speak against me, it's not gonna end well for you.
- We are not, you know, born of fearful men and men who fear to write or speak against things that were for the moment, unpopular.
- It may bring up childhood experiences of a parent going silent when we dared to speak against them.
- Inviting people like Milo Yiannopoulos creates a an unsafe environment for the people that he is speaking against.
- I come to speak against quotas, but I make that statement in the context of the New Zealand experience.
- If his heart is as light as a feather, then his heart is pure and it will not speak against him and that means he can go into the afterlife.
Examples
-
But you can be sure that I will also speak against war.
-
We have political leaders who've spoken against vaccines or at least haven't done very much to support them.
-
Yet you do not speak against it.
-
Then they are speaking against their Queen.
-
No man speaks against you now, Mary.
-
We should not give our own staff any reason to speak against us in a lawsuit.
Academic text (2006) -
I will speak against injustice anywhere, with permission or without it.
-
But at a meeting of the peons, this man spoke against the heavy taxes.
-
Well said, Dannah. We are called to speak against evil and reveal it for what it is.
Blog text (13) -
I will always speak against any form of discrimination in our community.
Synonyms
∞
2.9
To be against something and try to stop it
597
3.4
To strongly criticize someone or something in public
298
4.0
To strongly criticize someone or something publicly
283
3.2
To show strong disagreement in public, often by joining a march or strike
115
6.8
Publicly criticize someone or something strongly
44
4.1
Publicly say you are strongly against something or someone
40
3.6
To show in public that you strongly disagree with something
31
7.7
To say in public that something is bad or wrong
23
4.6
Publicly say you strongly agree or disagree with something
22
3.7
To resist a person or rule that treats people unfairly
7
3.9
Speak in public to say you are worried about something
1
9.7
To disagree strongly with someone to try to stop them
1
9.9
Angrily criticize someone or something
Antonyms
How Strong
- Formal
115
6.8
298
4.0
15
4.2
701
3.3
∞
2.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to express opposition to or criticize' is directly derivable from combining 'speak' (to talk/speak publicly) with 'against' (in opposition). This verb + preposition composition is common and cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Speak against gives a simple picture: someone uses their voice (speak) on the opposite side (against) of an idea or person, for example standing up in a meeting to argue with a plan. So, it means 'to oppose' or 'to criticize' something publicly.