enmity

enmity, hostility, antipathy, antagonism, animosity, rancor, animus mean intense deep-seated dislike or ill will or a manifestation of such a feeling.

Enmity implies more than the absence of amity or a friendly spirit; it suggests positive hatred which may or may not be dormant or concealed

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I will put enmity between thee and the woman— Gen 3:15

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angry friendship is sometimes as bad as calm enmity— Burke

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Hostility suggests strong and usually open enmity manifesting itself actively (as in warfare, in violent attacks, or in ostracism)

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the unremitting hostility with which . . . [these poems] have each and all been opposed— Wordsworth

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if we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility— Longfellow

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Antipathy and antagonism usually imply a temperamental or constitutional basis for one's hatred or dislike.

Antipathy suggests aversion or repugnance and often, in consequence, avoidance or repulsion of the person or thing hated

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inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded— Washington

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found it so hard to conceal his antipathy that he could not understand the way in which Dayrell went out of his way to cultivate his society— Mackenzie

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Antagonism stresses the clash of temperaments and the quickness with which hostilities are provoked or the spirit of resistance is aroused

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Karl Marx believed that the hostility of one nation to another will come to an end when the antagonism between classes within these nations vanishes

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some note of viceregal authority must have lingered in her voice for the caretaker's antagonism changed to a sort of bedraggled obsequiousness— Sackville-West

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Animosity and rancor denote emotions of such intensity or violence that they may, if not given release, provide the ground for active hostility.

Animosity usually suggests anger, vindictiveness, and sometimes a desire to destroy or injure what one hates

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the Bishop had let the parish alone, giving their animosity plenty of time to cool— Cather

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her hatred of the idea of it was intensified into a violent animosity— Bennett

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Rancor stresses bitterness and ill will amounting to malevolence; it often implies the nursing of a grudge or grievance

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'tis not my speeches that you do mislike, but 'tis my presence that doth trouble ye. Rancor will out: proud prelate, in thy face, I see thy fury— Shak.

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small wonder at her feeling an unchristian rancor against the nation which had caused his death— Forester

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Animus suggests less emotional violence than animosity, but it implies more definitely a prejudice or ill will that seeks to find expression

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there was no mistaking his intentions; he had transferred his animus to me, convinced I was to blame for his rejection— Heiser

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Analogous words: hate, hatred, detestation, abhorrence, loathing (see under HATE vb): aversion (see ANTIPATHY): malignity, malignancy, ill will, malevolence, *malice

Antonyms: amity

Contrasted words: friendliness, amicability (see corresponding adjectives at AMICABLE): *friendship, comity, goodwill