Against

 Against

####We use against to refer to negative, hostile or opposing reactions to situations, beliefs, people, events, etc.

e.g. Millions of people campaigned against the war.

e.g. It’s not easy to go against your parents’ advice.

e.g. That referee has something against our team. 

e.g. Discrimination against people on the basis of race, age or gender is illegal.

e.g. Everyone can be part of the fight against litter.

e.g. The best protection against illness is a good diet and lots of exercise.

Here are some common verbs often followed by against:

Act, decide, guard, speak out, advise, demonstrate, have something, struggle, argue, discriminate, protest, testify, be, fight, react, vote, campaign, go, rebel etc.

Here are some common nouns often followed by against:

Accusation, campaign, discrimination, protest, action, case, evidence, reaction, aggression, charge, fight, rebellion, appeal, complaint, law, argument, defence, prejudice, battle, demonstration, protection etc.

####We often use against to talk about physical contact between two or more things:

e.g. She was leaning against the wall reading a book. (there was contact between her and the wall)

e.g. The bed was against the wardrobe. (there was contact between the bed and the wardrobe)

####We often use against with verbs and nouns connected with sport and competitions, such as compete/competition, final, game, match, play, semi-final:

e.g. Japan competed against Germany in the semi-final.

e.g. England’s match against Jamaica was cancelled.

Sources:

Cambridge dictionary

Longman dictionary

Oxford dictionary