ENMITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does enmity mean? 

• ENMITY (noun)
  The noun ENMITY has 2 senses:

1. a state of deep-seated ill-will

2. the feeling of a hostile person

  Familiarity information: ENMITY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENMITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A state of deep-seated ill-will

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

antagonism; enmity; hostility

Hypernyms ("enmity" is a kind of...):

state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "enmity"):

latent hostility; tension (feelings of hostility that are not manifest)

state of war; war (a legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply)

cold war (a state of political hostility between countries using means short of armed warfare)

suspicion (the state of being suspected)

Instance hyponyms:

Cold War (a state of political hostility that existed from 1945 until 1990 between countries led by the Soviet Union and countries led by the United States)

Derivation:

inimical (not friendly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The feeling of a hostile person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

enmity; hostility; ill will

Context example:

he could no longer contain his hostility

Hypernyms ("enmity" is a kind of...):

hate; hatred (the emotion of intense dislike; a feeling of dislike so strong that it demands action)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "enmity"):

animosity; animus; bad blood (a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility)

class feeling (feelings of envy and resentment of one social or economic class for toward another)

antagonism (an actively expressed feeling of dislike and hostility)

aggression; aggressiveness (a feeling of hostility that arouses thoughts of attack)

belligerence; belligerency (hostile or warlike attitude or nature)

bitterness; gall; rancor; rancour; resentment (a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will)

Derivation:

inimical (not friendly)

 Context examples 

“I pray you, friend,” said Sir Nigel, “to tell us truthfully who you are, and why you follow this man with such bitter enmity?”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A companionship did exist between White Fang and the other dogs, but it was one of warfare and enmity.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

This lord, in conjunction with Flimnap the high-treasurer, whose enmity against you is notorious on account of his lady, Limtoc the general, Lalcon the chamberlain, and Balmuff the grand justiciary, have prepared articles of impeachment against you, for treason and other capital crimes.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

"For I have faith in your love, not fear of their enmity. All things may go astray in this world, but not love. Love cannot go wrong unless it be a weakling that faints and stumbles by the way."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

When they had nothing else to say, it must be always easy to begin abusing Miss Woodhouse; and the enmity which they dared not shew in open disrespect to her, found a broader vent in contemptuous treatment of Harriet.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Perhaps they sensed his wild-wood breed, and instinctively felt for him the enmity that the domestic dog feels for the wolf.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But he knew, further, that the comfort of the fire would be his, the protection of the gods, the companionship of the dogs—the last, a companionship of enmity, but none the less a companionship and satisfying to his gregarious needs.

(White Fang, by Jack London)