Animosity

How to spell animosity

9 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce animosity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does animosity mean?

1. nounStrong dislike, ill will, or open hostility toward someone or something.

Animosity in a sentence

• Years of unresolved disputes left lasting animosity between the two managers.

• The negotiation collapsed because of the animosity on both sides of the table.

Where does animosity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Animosity comes from the Latin animositas, which meant 'boldness, high spirit, vehemence'. That noun was built on animosus 'full of spirit, courageous', and ultimately on animus, meaning 'mind, spirit, courage, or passion', a relative of anima 'breath, soul, life'. English took the word in by way of Old French during the 1400s, when it still carried the neutral sense of vigorous spirit or daring. Over the following centuries the meaning soured: the energetic 'spiritedness' narrowed into a heated, hostile feeling aimed at someone, which is the only sense we keep today. The shared anim- root still powers familiar relatives such as 'animal' (a breathing, living thing), 'animate', and 'unanimous' (of one mind), and remembering that anim- means spirit or mind helps fix the single 'm' and the 'i' in the spelling.

How the word is built

• anim- (from animus: spirit, mind, passion)
• -osity (noun suffix denoting a quality or state)