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• foe
  foe

  noun

  a person who feels enmity, hatred, or malice toward another; enemy.
• F.O.E.
  F.O.E.

  abbreviation

  Fraternal Order of Eagles.
• FoE
  FoE

  abbreviation

  Friends of the Earth

foe

¹ American  

[foh] / foʊ /

noun

• foes
  plural

1. a person who feels enmity, hatred, or malice toward another; enemy.

   a bitter foe.

   Synonyms:

   antagonist, opponent

   Antonyms:

   friend

2. a military enemy; hostile army.

   Antonyms:

   friend

3. a person belonging to a hostile army or nation.

   Synonyms:

   antagonist, opponent

   Antonyms:

   friend

4. an opponent in a game or contest; adversary.

   a political foe.

   Synonyms:

   antagonist, opponent

5. a person who is opposed in feeling, principle, etc., to something.

   a foe to progress in civil rights.

   Synonyms:

   antagonist, opponent

6. a thing that is harmful to or destructive of something.

   Sloth is the foe of health.

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F.O.E. ² American  

abbreviation

1. Fraternal Order of Eagles.

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FoE ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. Friends of the Earth

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foe ² British  

/ fəʊ /

noun

1. formal another word for enemy

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Synonym Usage

See enemy.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• foes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of foe

First recorded before 900; Middle English foo, Old English fāh “hostile,” gefāh “enemy”; cognate with Old High German gifēh “at war”; see origin at feud ¹

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Explanation

A foe is an enemy. Foes can range from an adversary of one person to that of a nation, from “he is my foe” to “they are my foe.” There is also a “that is my foe” who those who are trying to diet know well, aka chocolate. A cousin of the word feud (though they don’t get a long of course) foe may refer to a military opponent or a personal nemesis or rival — Lex Luthor is Superman’s foe. Historically, foes often come in pairs — such as the North and the South in the Civil War. The word foe is sometimes used for an opposing concept or a thing — if you are on a diet, chocolate may be your foe.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

foe F.O.E. FoE foes

Scattered with former Premier League players, including Ederson, Nathan Ake, Romelu Lukaku and Nelson Semedo, the visitors would have been a formidable foe five years ago.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

For U.S. military officials, the order marked the return of an old foe: Bill Jones.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

“Artificial Intelligence is more friend than foe for Netflix,” the analysts said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

“She’s brought an extra fire to this whole effort, and really inspired a lot of young people,” said Jon Christensen, gondola foe and co-founder of the Los Angeles Parks Alliance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

The coup was the work of rival Florentine families, especially the Pazzis, as well as Pope Sixtus IV, a sworn Medici foe.

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day

While Wall greeted and posed with children for three hours at his morning event, about three miles away in another Southeast location, Wizards power forward Markieff Morris and his F.O.E.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 4, 2018

Marcus wore one gold and one silver chain representing the brothers’ motto, F.O.E.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2017

FoE said it would argue the sentences breach human rights legislation.

From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2024

FoE said the billions traditionally earmarked for new road projects should instead be invested in public transport, walking and cycling.

From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2020

If we go by the standards FoE are demanding of tin supplies then perhaps that is what is being demanded.

From Forbes ● Nov. 8, 2013

Again, by that FoE and tin standard this does seem to be what is being campaigned for.

From Forbes ● Nov. 8, 2013

"It is a wholly inadequate response to the greatest environmental crisis of our time," said FoE president Brent Blackwelder.

From Time Magazine Archive

Frenemies: Longtime foes Meta and Apple teamed up to put a new open-weight AI model on Macs, giving developers new way to run sophisticated AI locally.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

Haugen and Horwitz battled similarly daunting foes, and the rot they uncovered was just as systemic and frightening as the reporting.

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026

That is certainly a scary prospect for foes facing the No. 1 team in the state.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

“So it’s important for people to see that robots are not foes, but friends.”

From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026

It had been fifteen years, but it might have been fifteen minutes since his hundred routed foes fled through the frost.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

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Related Words

• adversary
• antagonist
• enemy
• rival

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