The council members supporting the project, whom opponents derisively refer to as "the gang of four," approved the rule change in mid-November.

They overheard an opponent refer to their play as "cretinous," and were fired up.

The opponents of supply-side economics often refer to it as "trickle-down economics."

Some opponents refer to it as a looming 100-story behemoth.

His reputation is clean enough that his opponents sometimes sneeringly refer to him as "the messiah."

The revolutionary opponents of the government referred to the Governor General as a "hangman", and tried to assassinate him.

Its opponents generally refer to the Saudi monarchy as totalitarians or dictators.

During the election, Jackson's opponents referred to him as a "jackass".

Doesn't this imply what their opponents and the press consistently refer to as "swinging" cuts in public services, which they themselves deny?

Still other opponents of the school's closure referred to hidden agendas in relation to the land the school and its sport fields sit on.