Enmity

//ˈɛn.mɪ.ti// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The quality of being an enemy; a hostile or unfriendly disposition. countable, uncountable

    "We know from their literature that to our Saxon ancestors waste places of moor and forest and marshes were the resort of a host of supernatural creatures at enmity with mankind."

  2. 2
    the feeling of a hostile person wordnet
  3. 3
    A state or feeling of opposition, hostility, hatred or animosity. countable, uncountable

    "I merely repeat, remember always your duty of enmity towards Man and all his ways."

  4. 4
    a state of deep-seated ill-will wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
hostilityantagonismhostilityabhorrenceabominationacrimony

Example

More examples

"By love alone is enmity allayed."

Etymology

From Middle English enemyte, from Old French enemisté, ennemistié, from Late Latin, Vulgar Latin *inimīcitās, *inimīcitātem, from Latin inimīcus (“enemy”); cognates: French inimitié, Portuguese inimizade, Spanish enemistad. Equivalent to enemy + -ity.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.