мне кажется, было бы правильно добавить "выступил против" - для соответствия по времени. иначе англ. было бы is opposed to

No response for more than 2 weeks.
Corrected.

What's the literal meaning of "выступил" in this sentence?
Is it similar to "be" in the past, i.e., *was* [against this idea]?
Or does it literally mean "came out" etc.?

выступил против = дал понять, что он против
He made it clear that he was against the idea.

Thanks.
This verb, выступать and выступить, appears in various contexts, I guess.
Is it usually in this sense, дать понять?
As I checked it in one of my Russian-Hebrew dictionaries, it read something that can be rendered as "was outstanding", or something similar. Does it make sense?

I was quite familiar with this Russian verb in the past, but as I haven't used Russian actively during a number of years, I believe I forgot what it meant.

выступать - a) [imperfective only: denotes a state, not an action] stand out, stick out, protrude (physically);
б) make a public speech/act: often to express an opinion, a suggestion etc., but also appear on TV or on stage; a general-purpose verb in that meaning.

In this sentence, the verb fits well because, Kerry being a politician, 'oppose' obviously/most likely means he spoke out against 'this idea', rather than just say 'oh, I don't like it'.

Oh, I'd forgotten:
в) (of liquids) appear on the surface (like sweat appears on the forehead)

Actually, the verb "выступать" doesn't mean "дать понять".
These are kind of set expressions: выступать за, выступать против.
http://www.dicipedia.com/dic-ru...-term-8746.htm
6) (занимать, заявлять какую-л позицию) state one's view / position; (за вн., про́тив) come out (for; against)
выступа́ть за что-л — support smth
выступа́ть про́тив чего́-л — oppose smth

Thank you, Denis.
At first, when I saw the sentence in Russian, I wanted to translate it:
"... came out against this idea." But I wasn't sure whether "came out" would be the right verb here. I guess it can also render it properly, given the senses that you mentioned above.

Thank you too, Marina.
I've just read your comment. Well, both your comments offer quite a clear idea about the possible meanings of this verb. Now I can follow the corpus, trying to find this verb in its various avatars on the various example sentences. ☺

> that can be rendered as "was outstanding", or something similar. Does it make sense?
I don't think so.
Do you mean "outstanding" = "выступающий"?
http://www.dicipedia.com/dic-en...term-30010.htm
2) выступа́ющий (над чем-л.)

Actually, the meaning I found in Hebrew can be rendered as "stand out". Well, this is in fact what you suggested by "выступающий", isn't it?

> But I wasn't sure whether "came out" would be the right verb here.
It is the right verb, too.

> the meaning I found in Hebrew can be rendered as "stand out"
Do you mean, for instance:
Островок выступает (возвышается) над водой.
?

Yes, I believe this is a good example of the meaning I mentioned above (i.e., physically protrude).

#3801786

I guess, both meanings (physical and verbal prominence) are interrelated: like "to stand up against sth", "to raise [voice] in support" and so on.

Yes, it seems like that.

Of course they are, think of taking a step forward to speak out. :~>