work against (someone)

phrasal verb

worked against (someone); working against (someone); works against (someone)

: to contribute to a negative result for someone : make something less likely to happen for someone

Her lack of experience worked against her in the election.

Examples of work against (someone) in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

However, this turned out to work against them in the final four hours of the 14-hour flight, as the spare seats were enough space to put a deceased passenger. —Sophie Clark, Newsweek, 25 Feb. 2025

The standard treatment for CLM is ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug that still doesn't work against COVID-19 (despite what the new US health secretary has falsely claimed), but has proven useful against hookworms. —Ars Technica, 21 Feb. 2025

Stopping to search, your own body heat starts to work against you. —Outside Online, 19 Feb. 2025

The mayor said the new program would not work against the city’s efforts to transform vacant office space into housing, since the city is looking at multiple ways to tackle the problem. —Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News, 3 Feb. 2025