enmity

Definition

The quality of being an enemy; a hostile or unfriendly disposition.

Etymology

From Middle English enemyte, from Old French enemisté, ennemistié, from Late Latin, Vulgar Latin *inimīcitās, *inimīcitātem, from Latin inimīcus (“enemy”); cognates: French inimitié, Portuguese inimizade, Spanish enemistad. Equivalent to enemy + -ity.

Example Sentences

• "We know from their literature that to our Saxon ancestors waste places of moor and forest and marshes were the resort of a host of supernatural creatures at enmity with mankind."
• "Some later Muses from Ionia and Sicily reckoned it safest to weave together both versions and say that that which is both many and one, held together by both enmity and amity."
• "I merely repeat, remember always your duty of enmity towards Man and all his ways."