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 feud¹

synonym study for foe

1. See enemy.

Other definitions for foe (2 of 2)

F.O.E.

abbreviation

Fraternal Order of Eagles.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use foe in a sentence

But Brown had not been among those Johnson heard speak of the cops as foes.
90 Seconds of Fury in Ferguson Are the Key to Making Peace in America|Michael Daly|November 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was a gracious touch, a rhetorical olive branch to his vanquished foes.
Didn't Obama Hear Oregon’s Warning Shot on Immigration?|Doug McIntyre|November 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They decapitate those men deemed foes of their faith and celebrate the gore online, holding up the severed heads.
Inside the Mind of an ISIS Jihadi|Jamie Dettmer|September 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And decency is our great, guiding strength as we face such monstrous foes as ISIS.
From ISIS Videos to JLaw Nudes, When Is Looking Abetting Evil?|Michael Daly|September 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Nevertheless, Grande manages to shoot her foes to smithereens.
Ariana Grande’s Gay-Friendly Intergalactic Dance Party|Amy Zimmerman|August 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
With twelve hundred foes around us, we had plenty to occupy all our thoughts and attention.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
He sincerely hates all anti-tobaccoites and has a supreme disgust for the memory of King James I. and all royal foes of the plant.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
Thus it fell to the lot of the Marshal once more to hand over Paris to the foes of those to whom his allegiance was due.
Napoleon's Marshals|R. P. Dunn-Pattison
When many foes appear new vows of an appropriate kind should be entered into against them.
The Ordinance of Covenanting|John Cunningham
Most of them took him for a guerrilla fleeing from his foes, and looked in vain for blue-coated pursuers.
The Courier of the Ozarks|Byron A. Dunn

British Dictionary definitions for foe (1 of 2)

foe

/ (fəʊ) /

noun

formal, or literary another word for enemy

Word Origin for foe

Old English fāh hostile; related to Old High German fēhan to hate, Old Norse feikn dreadful; see feud 1

British Dictionary definitions for foe (2 of 2)

FoE

FOE

abbreviation for

Friends of the Earth

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

foe

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Origin of foe