What is the Latin word for opposite?

The usual Latin words for “opposite” are contrārius, adversus, oppōnō; also disiungō, disparō, stultitia. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“opposite” in Latin

contrāriusopposite, opposed, contrary, conflicting, witherward adversusfacing, opposite; towards; against oppōnōto set against; to oppose, object disiungōto disjoin, disunite, separate, part, divide; to unharness, unyoke disparōto separate, divide stultitiaFolly, stupidity, foolishness, simplicity, silliness, fatuity.dissentiōto dissent, disagree or differ vitiumflaw, defect, blemish, imperfection; vice; crime, wrongdoing, misdeed, sin, error, fault urbānitāsAn instance of living in the city; city life.; City fashions or manners; refinement, politeness, courtesy, urbanity, sop advertōto turn to or towards; to steer or pilot (a ship); to turn the mind to, give attention or draw attention to, attend

The English word opposite itself goes back to Latin pōnō, through oppositus.

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

opposite

contrarius (PROP., that is or lies over against; figuratively, exactly opposed, contradictory): adversus (PROP., turned to the spectator, lying over against him figuratively, in rhetoric, that is opposed in the same kind, that denotes the contrary; as sapientia and stultitia, according to Cic., Top., 11, 47; but also general term for contrarius; Vid: Cic., Or., 19, 56; 39, 135: Gell., 16, 8): oppositus (set or placed over against; of the action, not of the thing): disjunctus (logically opposed, disjunctive, Cic., Acad., 2, 30, 97): disparatus (contradictory; Vid: Cic., Invent., 1, 28, 42). Opposite to each other, contrarii inter se: to be of an opposite opinion, dissentire, dissidere ab aliquo and inter se.

opposite s.

contrarium (the contrary): “The opposite of anything,” must be expressed by contrarius alicujus or alicui rei; e.g., the opposite of this virtue is moral depravity, hujus virtutis contraria est vitiositas (Cic., Tusc., 4, 15, 34): The vices as opposite to the virtues, vitia, quae sunt virtutum contraria (Cic., Fin., 2, 24, 67): the manners of the town as opposite to the manners of the country, urbanitas, cui contraria est rusticitas (Quint., 6, 3, 17): opposites, contraria; adversa; or, more fully, contraria contrariis opposita (Cic.). ☞ Opposita is very late; Vid: Ruhnken ad Muret., t. 3, p. 489. Avoid, also, antithesis in this sense; in the old grammarians, it denoted the substitution of one letter for another; Vid: Freund’s Lex., s. v.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for opposite?: The usual Latin words for “opposite” are contrārius, adversus, oppōnō; also disiungō, disparō, stultitia. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.