enmity
Americannoun
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a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity; antagonism.
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(in a video game) the targeting for attack of a player character by an enemy, and the circumstance-specific strength of that targeting for any particular character; hate; aggro: Use the character’s ranged attack to get enmity.
Your tank needs to be spamming “Provoke” at that mob to increase his enmity, or else it’s going to turn and target your mages.
Use the character’s ranged attack to get enmity.
noun
Etymology
Origin of enmity
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English enemite, enmite, from Old French enemi(s)tie, from unattested Vulgar Latin inimīcitāt- (stem of inimīcitās ), equivalent to Latin inimīc(us) “(personal ) enemy” + -itāt- abstract noun suffix; see enemy, -ity
Explanation
Enmity means intense hostility. If you're a football fanatic, you feel enmity for your opposing team. Enmity comes from the same Latin root as enemy, and means the state of being an enemy. If you have always hated someone, you have a history of enmity with that person. Enmity is stronger than antagonism or animosity, which imply competitive feeling but don't go all the way to enemy status. Hopefully you are a peacemaker and don't experience too much enmity in your life.
Vocabulary lists containing enmity
Lord of the Flies
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Animal Farm
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Romeo and Juliet
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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.
Lee, a veteran labour activist and a witness to the 1989 crackdown, told the court in March he felt no enmity towards the Communist Party and hoped it would reform.
From Barron's • May 18, 2026
Despite a shared enmity for the United States and Israel, the Shiite and Sunni militias are bitter sectarian foes.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2026
Burundi has been a natural ally of DR Congo for years because of its enmity with Rwanda.
From BBC • Dec. 12, 2025
In April, a Siberian court found a real-estate agent guilty of inciting hatred and enmity by urging women to marry soldiers for “self-interested reasons.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 5, 2025
I understood that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which' we stupidly impose our hopes and fears.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
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.
