militate against

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

militate against \mil"i*tate a*gainst"\, v. t.
   To argue against; to cast doubt on; -- used in reference to
   facts which tend to disprove a hypothesis; as, the absence of
   a correlation of budget deficits with inflation militates
   against any causal relation between the two. Opposite of
   {support}.
   [PJC]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

56 Moby Thesaurus words for "militate against":
      antagonize, battle, be antipathetic, be inimical, beat against,
      beat up against, breast the wave, buck, buffet, buffet the waves,
      clash, close with, collide, combat, compete with, conflict,
      conflict with, confute, contend against, contest, contradict,
      contrapose, contravene, counter, counteract, counterattack,
      counterpose, countervail, counterwork, cross, fight, fight against,
      go against, go counter to, grapple with, interfere with,
      join battle with, labor against, lock horns, meet head-on,
      offer resistance, oppose, oppugn, reluct, reluctate, resist, rival,
      run against, run counter to, stem the tide, strive against,
      struggle against, swim upstream, take on, vie with, work against