The act or process of making someone hostile or turning them into an opponent; the state of becoming antagonistic.
From antagonize (Greek anti- + agonizesthai) plus the suffix -ation, which converts verbs into nouns describing the action or result. This pattern is common in English (create → creation, organize → organization).
In politics and diplomacy, antagonization is actually studied as a strategic mistake—once you antagonize a group, it's extremely hard to reverse that damage because hostility tends to feed on itself. Understanding this word helps explain why conflicts escalate so quickly.
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