antipathy
Americannoun
plural
antipathies-
a natural, basic, or habitual repugnance; aversion.
- Synonyms:
- hatred, detestation, abhorrence, disgust
- Antonyms:
- attraction
-
an instinctive contrariety or opposition in feeling.
-
an object of natural aversion or habitual dislike.
noun
-
a feeling of intense aversion, dislike, or hostility
-
the object of such a feeling
Related Words
See aversion.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of antipathy
1595–1605; < Latin antipathīa < Greek antipátheia. See anti-, -pathy
Explanation
An antipathy is a deep-seated dislike of something or someone. Usually it's a condition that is long-term, innate, and pretty unlikely to change — like your antipathy for the Red Sox. If you look at the Greek roots of this word — anti- ("against") and pathos ("feeling") — you can see that antipathy is a feeling against someone or something. In general, antipathies are feelings that are kept at least somewhat under wraps and are not out in the open.
Vocabulary lists containing antipathy
Power Prefix: Anti
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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Common Senses: Path ("Feeling")
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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 could learn from India, which jettisoned antipathy toward Israel in the early 1990s, at around the same time that it embraced a more market-based economic outlook.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026
Filmmakers and critics fretted, reasonably, that a Netflix acquisition would kill off the moviegoing experience for good, in light of Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos’ professed antipathy toward theater-exclusive releases.
From Slate • Feb. 27, 2026
His antipathy toward legitimate news outlets isn’t new.
From Salon • Nov. 22, 2025
Any antipathy that Barcelona may have had for Real Madrid in the past does not preclude the fact that for years it seemed that they wanted to be them.
From BBC • Apr. 25, 2025
At the outset, he shared the university scientist’s traditional antipathy to the patent process, so redolent of commercialism and so distinctly unacademic.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
