antipathy
Americannoun
-
antipathies
plural
-
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
Synonym Usage
See aversion.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
If the antipathy between Arab nationalists and Jewish Zionists had been the only factor fueling the violence, the Middle East might have cooled down after the end of the Cold War.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Worse were Hong’s attempts to confront her apparent antipathy toward holidays including Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July and even Halloween that appeared on her unscrubbed X account.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
Although, for his critics, his reputation was dented by his philosophical antipathy to regulation, and two great market crashes.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
The mayoral hopeful didn’t articulate a platform that radically departed from Bass’, and voter antipathy to her muddled messaging showed: she ended the night in third place.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
Ben had carried a strong antipathy for Jim Don since his one date with Ansley Matthews.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Pet peeves aren’t really very serious and neither are the antipathies I’ve mentioned.
From Washington Post ● May 1, 2022
Americans like to think about how Pearl Harbor came and we as a country put our antipathies and hatreds aside for a moment to cooperate in defeating Hitler and Mussolini.
From Slate ● Mar. 16, 2020
We wish you the best in your affections and antipathies.
From Fox News ● Dec. 9, 2019
One widely reproduced entry lists, in two vertical columns, Morton’s enthusiasms and antipathies.
From New York Times ● Aug. 29, 2018
But unimpressionable natures are not so soon softened, nor are natural antipathies so readily eradicated.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
