againstism

English

Etymology

against +‎ -ism

Noun

againstism (countable and uncountable, plural againstisms)

1. The perspective or activity of being against something, or of having a contrary demeanor in general; a pattern of repeated opposition or criticism.

   Synonym: contrarianism

   • 1944, Benjamin Stolberg, Tailor's progress: the story of a famous union and the men who made it ...‎^[1], Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., page 203:

     The new Administration had come in on a tidal wave of angry againstism — against Hoover, against Big Business, against the bankers and the speculators, whom the American people blamed severally and jointly for all their troubles.

   • 1950, Collier's‎^[2], volume 125, Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, page 9:

     The Republican party in those days was not a party of againstism or negativism.

   • 1970, Sir Anthony Glyn (bart.), The blood of a Britishman‎^[3], Hutchinson, page 248:

     'Againstism', it may be thought, is not a quality which would necessarily be welcomed among immigrants.

   • 2007, John Foot, Winning at All Costs: A Scandalous History of Italian Soccer‎^[4], Nation Books, →ISBN, page 314:

     There is a glorious tradition amongst Italian soccer fans of againstism - supporting whoever is playing against the team you hate.

   • 2012, Bryan-Paul Frost, “Raymond Aron's Pedagogical Constitution and Pursuit of Liberal Education”, in John Von Heyking, Lee Trepanier, editors, Teaching in an Age of Ideology‎^[5], Plymouth, United Kingdom: Lexington Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 54:

     The protesters displayed what we might call a vague “againstism”: they were against the “government,” the “system,” “hierarchy,” “lack of opportunities,” and ultimately “consumer society” as a whole.

Anagrams

• antisigmas