Link Centre Dictionary

enemy

UK/ˈɛnəme/ US/ˈɛnəmi/ common

noun

1.

an opposing military force

  • “the enemy attacked at dawn”
2.

an armed adversary (especially a member of an opposing military force)

  • “a soldier must be prepared to kill his enemies”
Synonyms
3.

any hostile group of people

  • “he viewed lawyers as the real enemy”
4.

a personal enemy

  • “they had been political foes for years”
Synonyms
Antonyms

Origin

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 fend (“enemy”), from Old English fēond (“enemy”), which survived into Modern English as fiend, but with a different meaning. Doublet of inimic.

Phrases

  • be one's own worst enemy
  • better is the enemy of good
  • class enemy
  • enemy action
  • enemy combatant
  • enemy image
  • enemy line
  • enemy of the people

Related words

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.