enemy definition

English enemy definition

Alternative forms

• enemie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English enemy, enemye, enmy, borrowed from Old French enemi, anemi (Modern French ennemi), from Latin inimīcus, from in- (“not”) + amīcus (“friend”). Displaced Middle English feend (“enemy”), from Old English fēond (“enemy”), which survived into Modern English as fiend, but with a different meaning.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛnəmi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: en‧e‧my

Noun

enemy (plural enemies)

1. Someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or intends injury to someone else.

   Synonyms: foe, unfriend, adversary, nemesis, backfriend

   Antonyms: ally, friend

   under enemy duress

   He made a lot of enemies after reducing the working hours in his department.

   You may not want any enemies, but sometimes, your enemies choose you.

   • 2005, George Lucas, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, spoken by Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen):

     If you're not with me, then you're my enemy.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:

     Garrus: Fist knows you're coming. We'll have a better chance if we all work together.
     Wrex: My people have a saying: Seek the enemy of your enemy, and you will find a friend.

   • 2022 March 13, Yevgenia Albats, 10:01 from the start, in Journalist risking jail to report from inside Russia speaks out‎^[1], CNN:

     I am a known enemy and I cannot say more than I already said. And my books and my articles and my magazine- whatever could happen to the publication has already happened. What else? They can kill me. OK, you know, nobody promised me that I'm going to live forever.

2. A hostile force or nation; a fighting member of such a force or nation.

   Synonyms: foe, adversary, nemesis

   Antonyms: ally, friend

   Rally together against a common enemy.

3. Something harmful or threatening to another
   • 2012, John Branch, “Snow Fall : The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in New York Time‎^[2]:

     The very thing the 16 skiers and snowboarders had sought — fresh, soft snow — instantly became the enemy. Somewhere above, a pristine meadow cracked in the shape of a lightning bolt, slicing a slab nearly 200 feet across and 3 feet deep. Gravity did the rest.

4. (attributive) Of, by, relating to, or belonging to an enemy.

   The building was destroyed by enemy bombing.

5. (video games) A non-player character that tries to harm the player.

   Synonym: mob

Usage notes

• Singular and plural verbs can be used interchangeably when referring to sense 2, e.g. the enemy are retreating vs. the enemy is retreating.

Derived terms

Related terms

• enmity
• inimical

Translations

See also

• nemesis

Verb

enemy (third-person singular simple present enemies, present participle enemying, simple past and past participle enemied)

1. To make an enemy of.
   • 1963, The Castles and the Crown: Spain, 1451-1555, page 51:

     These prelates and nobles, seeing themselves dispossessed by the death of this king don Alfonso, to whom they had adhered, and enemied with the king don Enrique his brother, whom they had deserted, were in great fear, dreading the indignation of the king, whom by letters and words they had much injured; and they found no other remedy for their defense but to continue the division which they had begun in the realm, raising for queen of it the princess doña Isabel in place of her brother.

   • 2009, Adam Stephen Alber, Greater Than My Thoughts: A Glimpse Of My Soul, page 64:

     But rather the life He has lived People he met Befriended and enemied

   • 2014, Robert Shanafelt, Nathan W. Pino, Rethinking Serial Murder, Spree Killing, and Atrocities, page 184:

     Bureaucracy and wider features of a division of labor also facilitates the “othering” and “enemying” associated with systemic violence and makes possible the professionalization of atrocity.

   • 2016, Elif M. Gokcigdem, Fostering Empathy Through Museums, page 45:

     But these choices came with point values: friending someone who friended you gave each player fifteen points; friending someone who enemied you gave the enemy-er a whopping twenty-five points but lost the friend-er five points; and if both players enemied each other, both got five points.

Anagrams

• Yemen, yemen

Middle English enemy definition

Alternative forms

• anemie, elmy, enemi, enemye, enimy, enme, enmie, enmij, enmy, enmye, enmye, enymy

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French enemi, anemi, from Latin inimīcus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛnɛmiː/, /ˈɛnmiː/

Noun

enemy (plural enemys)

1. An enemy, foe, or adversary:
   1. An opponent of the true religion.
   2. A hostile combatant.
   3. (Christianity) The Devil; Satan.
2. A malign or hostile force.
3. Hostility; enmity.

Related terms

• enemyte

Descendants

• English: enemy
• Scots: enemy

References

• “enemī, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old French enemy definition

Noun

enemy m (oblique plural enemys, nominative singular enemys, nominative plural enemy)

1. Alternative form of enemi

Descendants

• → English: enemy