English Language & Usage Asked on February 21, 2021
This is a line from series Yes, Prime Minister S1E4:
Prime Minister, I must protest in the strongest possible terms my profound opposition to a newly instituted practice which imposes severe and intolerable restrictions upon the ingress and egress of senior members of the hierarchy and which will, in all probability, should the current deplorable innovation be perpetuated, precipitate a constriction of the channels of communication, and culminate in a condition of organisational atrophy and administrative paralysis which will render effectively impossible the coherent and co-ordinated discharge of the function of government within Her Majesty’s United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
I have only heard "I protest against sth." or "I express my opposition towards sth.", but how can it be phrased like "I protest my opposition to sth."? It sounds like a double negative, but does it work the same as "I oppose sth."?
Chambers, after listing definitions of the intransitive use of "protest", defines the transitive use thus: "to make a solemn declaration of; to declare; to declare the non-acceptance or non-payment of (a bill of exchange)". It then lists two definitions tagged (Shakesp) and one tagged (Milton), and, lastly, "to make a protest against".
So "protest" is not inherently negative. It's pro-, not con-. True, it's sometimes used in contexts that suggest a negative because people protest against something, or, as in the text you quoted, protest opposition to something. But the negativity comes from words such as "against" or "opposition", not "protest". So "protest opposition" is really only a single negative, not a double negative.
Correct answer by Rosie F on February 21, 2021
The first use in Merriam-Webster online is "to make solemn declaration or affirmation of" (e.g. protest my innocence). So I agree that you most often hear protest as being against something but the word can also be used to affirm. Dictionary Reference
Answered by gorlux on February 21, 2021
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