arch. [L., a. Gr. ἀντιπερίστασις, f. ἀντί against + περίστασις a standing round, circumstance.] Opposition or contrast of circumstances; the force of contrast or contrariness; resistance or reaction roused against any action.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. ii. (1633), 29. Tis doubtless this Antiperistasis (Bear with the word, I hold it not amiss).
1640. Fuller, Joseph’s Coat (1867), 29. Having their penury doubled by the antiperistasis of others plenty.
a. 1703. Burkitt, On N. T., 2 Cor. iv. 16. The cold blasts of persecution … did, by a spiritual antiperistasis, increase the heat of grace within.
1837. Macaulay, Bacon, Ess., I. 410/2. He tells us, that in physics the energy with which a principle acts is often increased by the antiperistasis of its opposite.
