Word of the Day Archive
Thursday August 10, 2006
animus \AN-uh-muhs\ , noun:
1. Basic attitude or animating spirit; disposition; intention.
2. A feeling of ill will; animosity.
3. In Jungian psychology, the inner masculine part of the female personality [cf. anima].
The seemingly anti-intellectual animus of the syllabus [the Syllabus of Errors, issued by Pope Pius IX in 1864] also disillusioned some converts, among them Thomas Arnold, who reverted to Anglicanism when he learned of it.
-- Patrick Allitt, Catholic Converts
It is important to note also that part of Kipling's animus against the Christian missionaries in India arose from his indignation at their destructive puritanism.
-- Christopher Hitchens, "A Man of Permanent Contradictions", The Atlantic, June 2002
To teach the poor chump a lesson, the media mogul steals the burglar's lucky ring, an act of scornful hauteur that brings out the animus in Dortmunder.
-- Marilyn Stasio, review of M Is for Malice, by Sue Grafton, New York Times, November 10, 1996
Animus is from Latin animus, "soul, character, disposition."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for animus
