From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishadversarialad‧ver‧sa‧ri‧al /ˌædvɜːˈseəriəl $ -vərˈser-/ adjective PPSCLan adversarial system, especially in politics and the law, is one in which two sides oppose and attack each other the adversarial nature of two-party politics
Examples from the Corpus
adversarial• Malthus' gloomy picture of human life seems to many contemporary commentators much too atomistic and adversarial.• That means more litigation, more expense, more adversarial behavior.• Do we want a constantly adversarial deadlock of blame and counter-blame, which profits only lawyers?• Reporters used extreme and adversarial methods to get their information.• The adversarial nature of contentious proceedings before the International Court ensures that the parties are readily identifiable.• This is symptomatic of the adversarial relationship schools have with Woodhead, but it is also an extremely important test case.• Western and Eastern Europe no longer have an adversarial relationship.• In both countries there are men in positions of responsibility and influence who would be comfortable with a more adversarial situation.• At this stage it is worth emphasising that we still deal with personal injury litigation under an adversarial system.• Such an interchange is identified as crucial for maintaining the cooperation that appears absent in adversarial Western systems. 