antagonize 復習
North Korea has hailed Tuesday’s summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un as marking the end to hostile relations with the US, with state media depicting the meeting as a diplomatic victory for its leader. …
The North Korean leader was quoted as saying the regime could take more goodwill measures if the US reciprocated with genuine measures to build trust, and that the two countries should take legal and institutional steps to avoid antagonising each other. The report added that Trump said he “understood”. (Skip the rest)
今回取り上げる語は、antagonize /æntˈægənὰɪz/ です。記事中では “avoid antagonising each other” とあり、文脈から「お互い(米国と北朝鮮)にいがみ合うことを避ける」という推測が立ちます。以下で意味等を確認していきます。
まず意味を Cambridge Dictionary でみると、“to make someone dislike you or feel opposed to you” とあり、LDOCEには “to annoy someone very much by doing something that they do not like” と定義されていました。
次に語源を OED でみると、“Mid 18th century (in the sense ‘struggle against’): from Greek antagōnizesthai, from ant- ‘against’ + agōnizesthai ‘struggle’ (from agōn ‘contest’).” とありました。
以上のことから、antagonize は「反感を抱かせる」という意味であることがわかりました。(OkaUchi)
