A'dverse. adj. [adversus, Lat.]

In prose, it has now the accent on the first syllable; in verse it is accented on the first by Shakespeare; on either, indifferently, by Milton; on the last, by Dryden; on the first, by Roscommon.

1. Acting with contrary directions; as, two bodies in collision.

   Was I for this nigh wreckt upon the sea,
   And twice, by adverse winds, from England's bank
   Drove back again unto my native clime? Shakesp. Henry VI.

   As when two polar winds blowing adverse,
   Upon the Cronian sea together drive
   Mountains of ice. Milton's Paradise Lost, b. x. l. 289.

   With adverse blast up-turns them from the South,
   Notus and Afer. Ibid. l. 701.

   A cloud of smoke envelopes either host,
   And all at once the combatants are lost;
   Darkling they join adverse, and shock unseen;
   Coursers with coursers justling, men with men. Dryd.

2. Figuratively; contrary to the wish or desire; thence, calamitous; afflictive; pernicious. It is opposed to prosperous.

   What if he hath decreed, that I shall first
   Be try'd in humble state, and things adverse;
   By tribulations, injuries, insults,
   Contempts, and scorns, and snares, and violence. Par. Reg.

   Some the prevailing malice of the great,
   Unhappy men, or adverse fate,
   Sunk deep into the gulfs of an afflicted state. Roscommon.

3. Personally opponent; the person that counteracts another, or contests any thing.

   Well she saw her father was grown her adverse party; and yet her fortune such, as she must favour her rivals. Sidney.