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Opposition; contrariety. [Obs.] Wyclif. Adversity is not without comforts and hopes. Bacon.

iate; to abate; to mitigate; as, to allay the severity of affliction or the bitterness of adversity. It would allay the burning quality of that fell poison. Shak.

, as the violence of winds or waves; a stroke; an adverse action; an affliction; a trial; adversity. Those planks of tough and hardy oak that used for yeas to brave the buffets of the Bay of Biscay. Burke. Fortune's buffets and rewards. Shak.

A succession of blows; continued violence, as of winds or waves; afflictions; adversity. He seems to have been a plant of slow growth, but . . . fitted to endure the buffeting on the rudest storm. Wirt.

es, color, scenes, or events; esp., to subject to frequent alternations of prosterity and adversity. Our minds are, as it were, checkered with truth and falsehood. Addison.

true woman-s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. W. Irving.

To pass gradually from a sound, prosperous, or perfect state, to one of imperfection, adversity, or dissolution; to waste away; to decline; to fail; to become weak, corrupt, or disintegrated; to rot; to perish; as, a tree decays; fortunes decay; hopes decay. Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth ac…

r The several caskets to this noble prince. Shak. Prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity doth best discover virtue. Bacon. We will discover ourselves unto them. 1 Sam. xiv. 8. Discover not a secret to another. Prov. xxv. 9.

Bk. of Com. Prayer). This virtuous plaster will displease Your tender sides. J. Fletcher. Adversity is so wholesome . . . why should we be displeased therewith Barrow.

Discomfort; uneasiness. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes, and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. Bacon.

m, as under trial or suffering; to suffer patiently or without yielding; to bear up under adversity; to hold out. Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee Ezek. xxii. 14.

to lose courage or spirit; to become depressed or despondent. If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. Prov. xxiv. 10.

off when ripe. (b) To withdraw; to separate; to become detached; as, friends fall off in adversity. "Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide." Shak.

don; to depart or withdraw from; to leave; as, false friends and flatterers forsake us in adversity. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments. Ps. lxxxix. 30.

which enables a person to encounter danger with coolness and courage, or to bear pain or adversity without murmuring, depression, or despondency; passive courage; resolute endurance; firmness in confronting or bearing up against danger or enduring trouble. Extolling patience as the truest fortitude. Milton. Fortitude…

. Prosperity, considered absolutely and irrespectively, is better and more desirable than adversity. South.

n; measure. But to speak in a mean, the virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude. Bacon. There is a mean in all things. Dryden. The extremes we have mentioned, between which the wellinstracted Christian holds the mean, are correlatives. I. Taylor.

Calmness of mind; equanimity; as, to bear adversity with moderation. The calm and judicious moderation of Orange. Motley.

A state of affliction; adversity; as, a dreary night of sorrow.

sed as an indefinite subject or verb, like on in French, and man in German; as, people in adversity. People were tempted to lend by great premiums. Swift . People have lived twenty-four days upon nothing but water. Arbuthnot .