Meaning & use
animosity
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Meaning
noununcountable
Strong dislike or hostility, often built up over a long time between people or groups.
Grammar: Usually followed by 'toward(s)' or placed 'between' two parties; plural 'animosities' is possible for separate instances.
Patterns
- animosity toward someone
- animosity between A and B
- feel animosity
Years of rivalry left him with a deep animosity toward his former partner.
There was no animosity between the teams after the final whistle.
Old animosities between the families still surface at election time.
Word forms
| plural | animosities |
|---|
Common combinations
- deep animosity
- Deep animosity between the brothers kept them apart for years.
- animosity toward someone
- She felt no animosity toward the referee after the loss.
- animosity between
- There is little animosity between the two rival schools.
- harbor animosity
- He chose not to harbor animosity once the dispute ended.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hostility
- Similar, but hostility can be brief or openly shown; animosity is usually deeper and longer-lasting.
- resentment
- Bitterness about a past wrong, usually personal; animosity need not come from a specific grievance.
- antipathy
- Formal; a settled dislike that often stays passive, without the active edge animosity can have.
- enmity
- Stronger and more literary; suggests the formal state of being enemies.
Opposites
Word family
- animus noun
- A formal word for a hostile feeling or motive.
Practice
Years of rivalry left him with a deep animosity ___ his former partner.
Choose one answer.
Animosity is felt toward one person or group, so 'toward' is correct. 'Between' needs two named parties placed around it, as in 'animosity between the two firms', and 'during' and 'under' do not fit this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “animosity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.