enmity

American  

[en-mi-tee] / ˈɛn mɪ ti /

noun

• enmities
  plural

1. 

   a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity; antagonism.

   Synonyms:

   rancor, acrimony, malice

2. (in a video game) the targeting for attack of a player character by an enemy, and the circumstance-specific strength of that targeting for any particular character; hate; aggro: Use the character’s ranged attack to get enmity.

   Your tank needs to be spamming “Provoke” at that mob to increase his enmity, or else it’s going to turn and target your mages.

   Use the character’s ranged attack to get enmity.

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enmity British  

/ ˈɛnmɪtɪ /

noun

1. a feeling of hostility or ill will, as between enemies; antagonism

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• enmities
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of enmity

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English enemite, enmite, from Old French enemi(s)tie, from unattested Vulgar Latin inimīcitāt- (stem of inimīcitās ), equivalent to Latin inimīc(us) “(personal ) enemy” + -itāt- abstract noun suffix; see enemy, -ity

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Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

enmity enmities

South Korea and Japan shelved decades of historical enmity to present China with a united front.

From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026

Webb said it’s the responsibility of the veterans on both sides to keep that history alive by explaining the enmity to the young players.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026

For white people who felt no enmity toward their fellow man, but who believed they were paying for the sins of their fathers, he was hope.

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026

Lee, a veteran labour activist and a witness to the 1989 crackdown, told the court in March he felt no enmity towards the Communist Party and hoped it would reform.

From Barron's ● May 18, 2026

Ghost was the only protection Jon needed; the direwolf could sniff out foes, even those who hid their enmity behind smiles.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

The battles fought between surviving friends—in this case Wilde’s literary executor, Robert Ross, and Wilde’s onetime boyfriend, Alfred “Bosie” Douglas—are more partisan, the enmities more acrimonious.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

His father was killed at the bitter end of the war, fighting for Marshal Tito, the leader who managed to knit together the multi-ethnic state of Yugoslavia and suppress simmering enmities.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

But its removal lit up social media, rekindling historic enmities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2025

However, ECA chief executive Charlie Marshall feels the old enmities have to be set aside.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2023

It was a “world criss-crossed by numerous patron-client relationships and family ties, in which major centers vied with one another in enmities that could endure for centuries.”

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

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Related Words

• acrimony
• alienation
• animosity
• animus
• antagonism
• antipathy
• bad blood
• bitterness
• dislike
• hatred
• hostility
• ill will
• loathing
• malice
• rancor

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