ENEMY
What does "ENEMY" mean?
A person, group, or force that is actively hostile or opposed to another.
Meanings
- Someone who hates or actively opposes another; an opponent or adversary. He made an enemy of every editor who turned him down.
- A hostile nation or its armed forces in wartime. The enemy crossed the river at dawn.
- A thing that harms or works against something. Perfectionism is the enemy of finishing. figurative
Did you know?
- An enemy is, at the root, an 'un-friend' - the Latin 'inimicus' is just 'in-' (not) bolted onto 'amicus' (friend), the same word behind 'amicable'.
Word origin
From Latin 'inimicus' (hostile, an enemy), from 'in-' (not) plus 'amicus' (friend); an enemy is literally a 'non-friend', came through Old French 'enemi'.
Remember it
ENEMY = 'an enemy' - and inside Latin it's literally 'not a friend' (in + amicus).
A little poem
Draw the line and name the other side.
Then watch how cleanly the line learns to move-
yesterday's friend, today's far shore.
tercet
Wordplay
- Why is an enemy just a friend with the prefix flipped? Because in Latin one is 'amicus' and the other is 'in-amicus' - the same person, with a 'not' bolted on.
What it teaches
Every enemy began as someone you simply weren't friends with; the line between is thinner than the war suggests.
Quick facts
What does ENEMY mean?
A person, group, or force that is actively hostile or opposed to another.
Is ENEMY a valid word?
Yes — ENEMY is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is ENEMY?
ENEMY has 5 letters and 3 syllables.
Where does ENEMY come from?
From Latin 'inimicus' (hostile, an enemy), from 'in-' (not) plus 'amicus' (friend); an enemy is literally a 'non-friend', came through Old French 'enemi'.
What can ENEMY teach us?
Every enemy began as someone you simply weren't friends with; the line between is thinner than the war suggests.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.