against
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
7 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "against", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "against" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "against" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
against is aEnglishprep. It means: In a contrary direction to. Pronounced /əˈɡɛnst/. It ranks #194 in English word frequency. Often confused with again.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | against |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep |
| IPA | /əˈɡɛnst/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #194 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for against is 7 letters long, classified as aprep, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈɡɛnst/. Corpus data places it at rank #194 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 17 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for against, with forms such as "aaginst", "againnst", and "againsst". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "again", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree ▲ Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Germanic *in Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *ganganąder.? Proto-Germanic *gagin Proto-Germanic *in gagin Proto-West Germanic *in gagin Ol… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is against, spelled A-G-A-I-N-S-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1In a contrary direction to.
- 2In physical opposition to; in collision with.
- 3In physical contact with, so as to abut or be supported by.
- 4Close to, alongside.
- 5In front of; before (a background).
- 6In contrast or comparison with.
- 7In competition with, versus.
- 8Contrary to; in conflict with.
- 9In opposition to.
- 10Of betting odds, denoting a worse-than-even chance.
- 11In exchange for.
- 12As counterbalance to.
- 13As a charge on.
- 14As protection from.
- 15In anticipation of; in preparation for (a particular time, event etc.).
- 16To be paid now in contrast to the following amount to be paid later under specified circumstances, usually that a movie is made or has started filming.
- 17Exposed to.
Etymology
Etymology tree ▲ Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Germanic *in Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *ganganąder.? Proto-Germanic *gagin Proto-Germanic *in gagin Proto-West Germanic *in gagin Old English onġēander. Middle English ayenes English against Formed from Middle English ayenes, agenes, againes (“in opposition to”), a southern variant of agen, or directly from again, either way with adverbial genitive singular ending -es; the parasitic -t was added circa 1350, probably by confusion with the superlative ending -est. By surface analysis, again + -st (excrescent ending). Cognate with Saterland Frisian juun (“against”), West Frisian tsjin (“against”), Dutch tegen (“against”), German Low German gegen (“against”), German gegen (“against”), Icelandic gegn (“against”).
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aaginst,againnst,againsst,againstt,againts,agaisnt,aganist,aggainst,agianst,gaainst
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for against
Misspelling Variants of "against"
Frequency rank: #194 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter A in our English index: