opposite number

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

opposite number (plural opposite numbers)

1. (idiomatic) A person who holds a position in an organization that corresponds to that held by another person in another organization; a counterpart
   • 1949 November and December, K. Longbottom, “By Goods Train to Gweedore”, in Railway Magazine, page 355:

     The first up train was the morning semi-fast ex Buncrana, which sped through with No. 8 at its head, adroitly exchanging staffs at about 15 m.p.h. […] The next train through Tooban was our opposite number, and we duly received the vital staff.

   • 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 590:

     Except for the mid-winter period, when the 11.30 a.m. from Paddington and its opposite number will be withdrawn - Torquay now has seven daily expresses to and from Paddington as compared with five down and six up previously.

Translations

counterpart

• Arabic: نَظِير (ar) m (naẓīr), نَظِيرَة f (naẓīra)
• Dutch: ambtgenoot (nl) m
• Finnish: virkaveli (fi), virkatoveri, kollega (fi)
• French: homologue (fr)
• German: Amtskollege (de) m, Amtskollegin (de) f
• Greek: ομόλογος (el) m (omólogos), ομόλογη (el) f (omólogi)
• Hungarian: kolléga (hu), hasonló beosztású​/​megbízatású képviselő​/​politikus
• Swedish: please add this translation if you can

References

• “opposite number”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.