antipathy
Americannoun
-
a natural, basic, or habitual repugnance; aversion.
- Synonyms:
- hatred, detestation, abhorrence, disgust
- Antonyms:
- attraction
-
an instinctive contrariety or opposition in feeling.
-
an object of natural aversion or habitual dislike.
noun
-
a feeling of intense aversion, dislike, or hostility
-
the object of such a feeling
Synonym Usage
See aversion.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of antipathy
1595–1605; < Latin antipathīa < Greek antipátheia. See anti-, -pathy
Explanation
An antipathy is a deep-seated dislike of something or someone. Usually it's a condition that is long-term, innate, and pretty unlikely to change — like your antipathy for the Red Sox. If you look at the Greek roots of this word — anti- ("against") and pathos ("feeling") — you can see that antipathy is a feeling against someone or something. In general, antipathies are feelings that are kept at least somewhat under wraps and are not out in the open.
Vocabulary lists containing antipathy
Power Prefix: Anti
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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Common Senses: Path ("Feeling")
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Antipathy toward the earnings test, and a belief that the rule is outdated since so many older Americans need to work, is why legislation is percolating in Congress to repeal it.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 15, 2026
Antipathy toward the people living farther along the coast is a constant theme.
From Washington Post • Jul. 29, 2022
Antipathy toward wolves for killing livestock and big game dates to early European settlement of the American West in the 1800s, and flared up again after wolf populations rebounded under federal protection.
From Washington Times • Mar. 7, 2021
Antipathy often arises in discussions about shale drilling across Europe.
From New York Times • Oct. 11, 2018
Antipathy to the infidel, the more exclusive sway of religious sentiment, were giving way to a mingling of secular aims and interests.
From Outline of Universal History by Fisher, George Park
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
