Forms: 4–6 adversite(e, adversyte(e; 4–7 adversitie; 7– adversity. [a. Mfr. adversité, refash. f. OFr. aversite:—L. adversitāt-em opposition, contrariety, f. adversus: see ADVERSE and -ITY.]
† 1. The state or condition of being contrary or opposed; opposition, contrariety. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Ps. iii. 8. For thou hast smyte all doende adversite [1388 beynge adversaries] to me with oute cause.
a. 1420. Occleve, De Reg. Princ., 390. I was agast fulle sore of the, Leste thow thurghe thoughtfulle adversitee Not hadest stonden in the feithe aright.
c. 1450. Lonelich, Grail, xviii. 174. One bone, sire kyng, þat thow graunte me Withowten lettynge owthir adversite.
2. The condition of adverse fortune; a state opposed to well-being or prosperity; misfortune, distress, trial or affliction. (The earliest sense in Eng.)
c. 1230. Ancren Riwle, 194. Þe uttre uondunge is mislicunge in aduersite.
1340. Ayenb., 27. Kuead of aventure, ase povertie oþer adversitie.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 399/4. Thenne late us praye … that he so gouerne us bytwene welth & aduersyte in this present lyf.
1535. Coverdale, Prov. xvii. 17. In aduersite a man shall know who is his brother [1611 A brother is borne for aduersitie].
1570–87. Holinshed, Scot. Chron. (1806), I. 81. Adversitie findeth few friends.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. iii. 55. Aduersities sweete milke, Philosophie. Ibid. (1600), A. Y. L., II. i. 12. Sweet are the vses of aduersitie.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 150, ¶ 5. He that never was acquainted with adversity has seen the world but on one side.
1771. Junius Lett., xlix. 254. A virtuous man, struggling with adversity, [is] a scene worthy of the gods.
a. 1852. D. Webster, Wks., 1877, III. 341. The discipline of our virtues in the severe school of adversity.
3. An adverse circumstance; a misfortune, calamity, trial.
1340. Ayenb., 84. Þe kueades and þe aduersetes of þe wordle.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerkes T., 551. Noon accident for noon aduersitee Was seyn in hire.
1483. Caxton, Cato, b ij. b. Strengthe for to resiste ageynst all aduersytees.
1526. Tindale, Acts vii. 10. And God was with him, and delivered hym out off all his adversities.
1651. Hobbes, Leviathan, II. xxxi. 188. The Prosperities and Adversities of this life.
1842. Longf., Sp. Stud., II. i. 1. Pray, tell me more of your adversities.
† 4. Contrariness of nature; perversity. (In Shak. = perverse one, quibbler.) Obs.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of Armes, III. ix. 186. The felawes muste be chaunged by som aduersyte that is in them.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., V. i. 14. P. Who keepes the Tent now? T. The Surgeons box, or the Patients wound. P. Well said aduersity.
