enmity

/ˈɛnmədi/

/ˈɛnmɪti/

Other forms: enmities

Enmity means intense hostility. If you're a football fanatic, you feel enmity for your opposing team.

Enmity comes from the same Latin root as enemy, and means the state of being an enemy. If you have always hated someone, you have a history of enmity with that person. Enmity is stronger than antagonism or animosity, which imply competitive feeling but don't go all the way to enemy status. Hopefully you are a peacemaker and don't experience too much enmity in your life.

Definitions of enmity

1. noun

   a state of deep-seated ill-will
   synonyms: antagonism, hostility

   examples:

   Cold War

   a state of political hostility that existed from 1945 until 1990 between countries led by the Soviet Union and countries led by the United States

   types:

   latent hostility, tension

   feelings of hostility that are not manifest

   state of war, war

   a legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply

   cold war

   a state of political hostility between countries using means short of armed warfare

   suspicion

   the state of being suspected

   proxy war

   a war instigated by a major power that does not itself participate

   cloud

   suspicion affecting your reputation

   type of:

   state

   the way something is with respect to its main attributes
2. noun

   the feeling of a hostile person
   synonyms: hostility, ill will

   types:

   animosity, animus, bad blood

   a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility

   class feeling

   feelings of envy and resentment of one social or economic class for toward another

   antagonism

   an actively expressed feeling of dislike and hostility

   aggression, aggressiveness

   a feeling of hostility that arouses thoughts of attack

   belligerence, belligerency

   hostile or warlike attitude or nature

   bitterness, gall, rancor, rancour, resentment

   a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will

   warpath

   hostile or belligerent mood

   heartburning

   intense resentment

   huffishness, sulkiness

   a feeling of sulky resentment

   grievance, grudge, score

   a resentment strong enough to justify retaliation

   enviousness, envy

   a feeling of grudging admiration and desire to have something that is possessed by another

   type of:

   hate, hatred

   the emotion of intense dislike; a feeling of dislike so strong that it demands action