a. [f. prec. + -IC.]

1

  1.  Of the nature of an antagonist; mutually opposed; actively opposed.

2

1632.  B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, III. iv. (T.). Their valours are not yet so … truly antagonistick as to fight.

3

1843.  Mill, Logic, II. iv. § 6. The antagonistic action of acids and alkalies.

4

1859.  Mill, Liberty, 127. The progressive principle … is antagonistic to the sway of Custom.

5

1875.  Wood, Therap. (1879), 260. That opium and belladonna are, in their influence upon the system, antagonistic.

6

1881.  M. Williams, in 19th Cent., No. 49. 505. In the Avesta we have the eternal principles of good and evil evolving innumerable antagonistic forces which confront each other in eternal opposition.

7

  2.  Phys. Said of the muscles that counteract each other’s action.

8

1845.  Todd & Bowman, Phys. Anat., II. 399. The action of the external and internal intercostals must be antagonistic.

9