Their behavior contributed to an adversarial attitude in certain schools, he said, where he is sometimes asked, "What are the parents paying you to say this?"

Many techies also evince an aggrieved, adversarial attitude toward the establishment or, in tech-speak, TPTB, "The Powers That Be."

Conservatives too often adopt an adversarial attitude with the media.

Striking that adversarial attitude when, really, they were all on the same side.

A further association is with adversarial attitudes on gender, that hold that women are opponents to be challenged and conquered.

Maybe this is what's wrong with all of us: our assumed adversarial attitudes.

Don Alberto, director of the town's Building Department, said the civic association's "adversarial attitude" made the town's job harder.

"That adversarial attitude on the part of the patients is reflected in how they relate to doctors," she added.

"The state needs to stop this adversarial, racist attitude that says, 'Only we can do it right,' " Mr. Bell said.

Ms. Marek's concern for her charges at times seems almost to force her into a narrowly adversarial attitude toward the families that have harmed them.