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enemy

[en-uh-mee]

noun

a person who feels hatred for, fosters harmful designs against, or engages in antagonistic activities against another; an adversary or opponent.

an armed foe; an opposing military force: The army attacked the enemy at dawn.

a hostile nation or state.

a citizen of such a state.

enemies, persons, nations, etc., that are hostile to one another: Let's make up and stop being enemies.

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something harmful or prejudical: His unbridled ambition is his worst enemy.

the Enemy, the Devil; Satan.

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adjective

belonging to a hostile power or to any of its nationals: enemy property.

Obsolete. inimical; ill-disposed.

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Enemy is always a great word to know.

So is ort. Does it mean:

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

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Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English enemi < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin inimicus unfriendly, equivalent to in- in-³ + amicus friendly, friend; see amicable

Related forms

non·en·e·my, noun, plural -mies.

Usage note
See collective noun.

Synonyms
1. antagonist. Enemy, foe refer to a dangerous public or personal adversary. Enemy emphasizes the idea of hostility: to overcome the enemy; a bitter enemy. Foe, a more literary word, may be used interchangeably with enemy, but emphasizes somewhat more the danger to be feared from such a one: deadly foe; arch foe of humankind (the Devil).

Antonyms
1. friend. 2. ally.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To enemy

Example Sentences

Caricaturing your enemy as a psychopath simply ensures that you will never defeat him.

American soldiers were trained to wipe the enemy out.

The enemy of our enemy may be our new partner in stopping a global health crisis.

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Caricaturing your enemy as a psychopath simply ensures that you will never defeat him.

American soldiers were trained to wipe the enemy out.

The enemy of our enemy may be our new partner in stopping a global health crisis.

Concrete and steel are the materials of choice when building buildings and vehicles that will protect soldiers from enemy fire.

If the enemy was scaling the walls, soldiers could drop rocks or boiling oil down through the holes and onto the enemy below.

In the meantime, we'll be vigilantly guarding our wheat from the squirrel enemy.

The sea lions would play an even more active role in enemy apprehension.

Every elected official is a potential enemy of the people.

In short, those who demand perfect consistency are making the perfect the enemy of the good.

Your lion would likely be covered in the blood of your enemy and thus be looking pretty ferocious.

And some are concerned that the laser could still be used to push enemy satellites out of orbit.

They hauled ammunition through the snow, carried messages through enemy lines and traversed suspected mine fields.

Having a common enemy isn't enough to justify working together, of course.

I've been wondering lately when books became the enemy.

Forget the trade unions: the government has made a much more powerful enemy.

Then when an enemy is near, they let out a cloud of the poison.

Aboveground, the air buzzed with mosquitoes and enemy ordnance.

They contained everything that was needed to support life underground and were virtually impervious to enemy infiltration.

For example, imagine you and your neighbors are hiding in a cellar from marauding enemy soldiers.

So don't bang your head on the office door trying to uncover what you did to create an enemy.

The government and its allies meanwhile struggle to understand their enemy.

It was the first time a submarine had successfully downed an enemy ship.

Launch an arrow or fire a gun into the enemy ranks and it becomes a little less clear.

They used electronic mine detectors to find enemy mines.

In this purest form of battle, you have a small band of males ganging up on an enemy.

Sometimes fear is our ally, true, but often it is no more than a masked enemy.

Fewer antennae mean fewer things for enemy radar to reflect from.

Worn as an amulet, it was supposed to bring wealth, or make soldiers invisible to the enemy.

Thankfully, the same quality that's made dandelions the mortal enemy of homogeneous lawn lovers is also its salvation.

The bombing, he said, had actually made his work harder by dispersing the enemy.

Neither side had a soldier killed by enemy fire despite all the shot and shell filling the air.

We're breaking into an elevated enemy base surrounded by jungle.

Mexican jays will also band together to ward off a common enemy.

If the dolphin encounters an enemy diver, it comes back and rings a bell on the side of the boat.

Striking an enemy target was then a hit and miss affair, as indeed it still is, despite claims to the contrary.

There was the enemy overseas, and also the battle against prejudice at home.

For example, scaremongers imagine carbon dioxide is our enemy.

One arises from a clear-cut enemy who can be fought in clear-cut ways.

Two of them-a twilight raid on an enemy fort and a royal funeral procession-were selected to accompany the article.

While enzymes in foods are great for us, they are the enemy of the food processing industry.

Sometimes the ball was carved as a human head that would fly off the club's handle and smack an enemy brave.

Player and enemy each have spell meters that slowly fill with each move of the gems.

If a stranger or an enemy turns up on his doorstep and asks for shelter, his honor depends on.

The effect on the environment is unfortunate, but it is better than living with the enemy.

On the contrary, he was their enemy's enemy and thus their friend, emancipator and guardian.

Hunley became the first underwater vessel to sink an enemy ship in battle.

Use that wasted power to control the enemy within: heat.

It's only the second time he's seen the lynx's great enemy this high up in late winter.

Even when you clear out one of the giant enemy bases, it's seamlessly converted into a friendly one.

High humidity is the natural enemy of an ink-jet print.

And when your enemy can destroy that huge advantage with one single shot.

Something about being able to command an ever-increasing fleet against an unseen enemy sent chills down.

Perfectionism is the enemy of the good and excellent--Sikora secretweapon.

Dolphins have also been used to detect enemy swimmers and divers, and potentially, to attach markers.

Money is again the enemy as she falls victim to a beaurocracy being made in her name.

Right now, troops trying to listen in on enemy chatter rely on a convoluted process.

Perfectionism is the enemy of the good and excellent--Sikora gennimom.

Underground building is good place to hiding from enemy.

Perfectionism is the enemy of the good and excellent--Sikora collegekidsmom.

Around the really old castles they built moats to make it hard for the enemy to get.

The military uses this tactic to throw the enemy off when during an attack.

Players will occasionally be able to summon a friendly drone that will fly in and point out enemy positions.

Perfectionism is the enemy of the good and excellent--Sikora scheherazade.

If he doesn't shoot the enemy, the enemy will shoot him.

The first few enemy waves are easy to neutralize, letting you familiarize yourself with your futuristic.

So, although there may be vested interests out there, research is not the enemy of innovation or change.

Boats, however, remain the primary enemy of the slow-moving creature.

Now, as the cliche goes, no plan survives enemy contact.

Perfectionism is the enemy of the good and excellent--Sikora marlborough.

Faced with a common enemy of totalitarianism, regional schisms within the country lost their importance.

The enemy is a large plant with a round head and a mouthful of teeth that will pop out of a pipe usually.

The enemy was either indifferent capitalist forces or mind-controlling big government.

Therefore, taking the head of one's enemy gives you their soul.

We have to contend with a horrible enemy that is difficult to kill and persistent in it's mission.

His people once controlled land on both sides of the river, but an enemy tribe has gradually encroached on their territory.

It is the first guided-missile strike against an enemy city in the history of warfare.

Using far greater firepower than your enemy is not considered a war crime.

Seeing a fellow trooper killed by a barbaric enemy can spark frustration, anger, and a desire for immediate revenge.

The movie arguably made sharks public enemy number one.

And within five years, its jamming tech is going to get even more sophisticated, placing viruses into enemy computer networks.

Along the way some were lost to enemy forces trying to escape while others were able to find their way to freedom.

The problem was it often didn't know where to rappel, or where to send its helicopters, or who the enemy was.

Grown men talked about the terror of facing line after line of enemy soldiers.

Plenty of new ways to reorganize enemy internals, and a casual side that's potentially.

So in the pipeline is equipment designed to conceal human heat signatures and visual signals from enemy sensors.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

enemy (ˈɛnəmɪ)

—n , pl -mies
1.	a person hostile or opposed to a policy, cause, person, or group, esp one who actively tries to do damage; opponent
2.	a. an armed adversary; opposing military force
	b. (as modifier): enemy aircraft
3.	a. a hostile nation or people
	b. (as modifier): an enemy alien
4.	something that harms or opposes; adversary: courage is the enemy of failure

Related: inimical

[C13: from Old French enemi, from Latin inimīcus hostile, from in-¹ + amīcus friend]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

enemy

early 13c., from O.Fr. enemi, from L. inimicus, from in- "not" + amicus "friend." Most words for "personal enemy" cover also "enemy in war," but certain languages have special terms for the latter, e.g. Gk. polemioi (distinct from ekhthroi), L. hostis, originally "stranger" (distinct from inimicus),

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Rus. neprijatel' (distinct from vrag). Rus. vrag (O.C.S. vragu) is cognate with Lith. vargas "misery" (see urge), and probably is related to P.Gmc. *wargoz, source of O.N. vargr "outlaw," hence "wolf;" Icel. vargur "fox," O.E. wearg "criminal, felon;" which likely were the inspirations for J.R.R. Tolkien's warg "a kind of large ferocious wolf" in "The Hobbit" (1937) and "Lord of the Rings." Related: Enemies.

COLLAPSE

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antiaircraft antimissile archenemy bridgehead collaborate collective noun

Slang

meals rejected by the enemy

Matching Quote

"How good bad music and bad reasons sound when we are marching into battle against an enemy."

-Friedrich Nietzsche

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