inimical
Americanadjective
-
adverse in tendency or effect; unfavorable; harmful.
a climate inimical to health.
- Synonyms:
- noxious
-
a cold, inimical gaze.
- Synonyms:
- antagonistic
- Antonyms:
- friendly
adjective
-
adverse or unfavourable
-
not friendly; hostile
Related Words
See hostile.
Other Word Forms
- inimicality noun
- inimically adverb
- inimicalness noun
- uninimical adjective
- uninimically adverb
Etymology
Origin of inimical
First recorded in 1635–45; from Latin inimīc(us) “unfriendly, hostile” ( enemy ) + -al 1
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.
It recently backed a Cabinet viewed as inimical to its interests in a bid to unlock reconstruction funds.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2025
More broadly, a massive and growing media marketing complex culturally "manufactures" modern high-consumption lifestyles, which are inimical to the environment and to human health and well-being.
From Salon • Sep. 29, 2024
Finally, much of her poetry made meticulous use of rhyme, which by the mid-20th century was disdained by the poetic establishment as inimical to the making of serious art.
From New York Times • Jan. 9, 2023
What we call the “criminal legal system” is actually a chaotic web of overlapping, often inimical, systems—plural.
From Slate • Mar. 8, 2022
Plantagenet has found these pre-WPA years inimical to his artistic inclinations.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
