Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
prep_phrase
Holding starkly opposite views on an issue.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
The idiom has been in use for at least a century http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1908/jul/23.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20060618034021/http://www.fmep.org/reports/special_reports/no10-winter2000/01-clinton_administration.html. It probably derives from a literal observation of political protests, where government buildings were insulated with barricades, and the government was said to not represent the people because they and the people were on opposite sides of the barricades.
