opposite — Defs

01 a. Placed over against; standing or situated over against or in front; facing; -- often with to; as, a house opposite to the Exchange; the con…

1.
Placed over against; standing or situated over against or in front; facing; -- often with to; as, a house opposite to the Exchange; the concert hall and the state theater stood opposite each other on the plaza.
2.
Situated on the other end of an imaginary line passing through or near the middle of an intervening space or object; -- of one object with respect to another; as, the office is on the opposite side of town; -- also used both to describe two objects with respect to each other; as, the stores were on opposite ends of the mall.
3.
Applied to the other of two things which are entirely different; other; as, the opposite sex; the opposite extreme; antonyms have opposite meanings.
4.
Extremely different; inconsistent; contrary; repugnant; antagonistic.
“Novels, by which the reader is misled into another sort of pleasure opposite to that which is designed in an epic poem.” — Dryden.

“Particles of speech have divers, and sometimes almost opposite, significations.” — Locke.
5.
Set over against each other, but separated by the whole diameter of the stem, as two leaves at the same node.(Bot.)

02 n. One who opposes; an opponent; an antagonist.

1.
One who opposes; an opponent; an antagonist.[Obs.]
“The opposites of this day's strife.” — Shak.
2.
That which is opposed or contrary in character or meaning; as, sweetness and its opposite; up is the opposite of down.
“The virtuous man meets with more opposites and opponents than any other.” — Landor.

Phrases & compounds

polar opposite — that which is conspicuously different in most important respects.