przeciwstawia

Przeciwstawia is a Polish verb form meaning “opposes” or “puts against,” and is the third-person singular present tense of the imperfective verb przeciwstawiać. It is used to describe the act of opposing, countering, or contrasting something with something else. The verb is complemented by the reflexive form przeciwstawia się, which means “to oppose oneself to” or “to resist.”

Etymology and meaning: przeciwstawiać is formed with the prefix przeciw- (against) and the root stawi- (from stawiać, “to place” or “to set”). The core sense is to place one thing against another, to present a counterargument, or to oppose a proposal, idea, or action. In broader usage, the word can denote both literal juxtaposition and figurative opposition.

Grammatical notes: przeciwstawia can take a direct object (przeciwstawia coś czemuś) as in “przeciwstawia tezę innym argumentom” (he opposes the thesis to other arguments). It is also used with a reflexive pronoun: przeciwstawia się czemuś (he resists or opposes this). The related perfective forms exist (przeciwstawić, przeciwstawić się) to emphasize a completed act of opposition, while przeciwstawia is typically imperfective or habitual in meaning.

Usage: common in formal, academic, and journalistic Polish, especially when describing counterarguments, contrasts, or challenges to proposals. It often appears in phrases like opposed to or counter to: “autor przeciwstawia hipotezę A hipotezie B.”

See also: przeciwstawiać, przeciwstawić, przeciwstawienie, stawić czoła.