antipathy

UK/ænˈtɪpəθi/

nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,085 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: antipathies

Antipathy is a deep settled dislike. Mutual antipathy, an antipathy towards him, deep antipathy.

It is stronger and colder than dislike and is often mutual, which is why the phrase mutual antipathy is so common. The Greek means feeling against, and sympathy is built the same way with a different prefix.

Definitions of antipathy

1nounantipathyA deep settled dislike.C2
“There was a deep antipathy between the two families that went back generations.”

antipathy is a dislike.

Where it comes from

Greek antipatheia means feeling against, from anti plus pathos, feeling.

Proto-Indo-European
*bʰendʰ- — to bind; a bond
grc-koi
ἀντῐπάθειᾰ — contrary affection; contrast; counteraction; opposition
Ancient Greek
ἀντῐπάθειᾰ — suffering instead
Latin
antipathīa — counteraction; natural aversion, antipathy
Middle French
antipathie — deep dislike; object of dislike; incompatibility between things
English, today
antipathy

Built from

ἀντῐπᾰθής · Ancient Greek — (adjective) felt mutually; in return for suffering; (noun) remedy for suffering
πᾰ́θος · Ancient Greek — death; disaster; misfortune; pain; suffering; strong feeling, emotion, passion, pathos
*kʷendʰ- · Proto-Indo-European — to endure; to suffer

Borrowed from Middle French antipathie (“deep dislike; object of dislike; incompatibility between things”) (modern French antipathie (“dislike, antipathy”)), and from its etymon Latin antipathīa (“counteraction; natural aversion, antipathy”), from Ancient Greek ἀντῐπάθειᾰ (“suffering instead”), grc-koi ἀντῐπάθειᾰ (“contrary affection; contrast; counteraction; opposition”), from ἀντῐπᾰθής (“(adjective) felt mutually; in return for suffering; (noun) remedy for suffering”) (from ἀντι- + πᾰ́θος (“death; disaster; misfortune; pain; suffering; strong feeling, emotion, passion, pathos”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰendʰ- (“to bind; a bond”) or kʷendʰ- (“to endure; to suffer”)) + -ης) + -ειᾰ.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

antipathy in the wild

The first type was traditional Catholic attitudes toward the alien "Christ killers" augmented by vehement antipathy toward the French Revolution.
Édouard Drumont
While antipathy may be induced by experience, it sometimes exists without a rational cause-and-effect explanation being present to the individuals involved.
Antipathy
Thus, the origin of antipathy has been subject to various philosophical and psychological explanations, which some people find convincing and others regard as highly speculative.
Antipathy
One bond between the two men was their shared antipathy to Richard Bettesworth, King's Serjeant and member of the Irish House of Commons for Midleton.
Josiah Hort
When measured in 2009 Pakistan was amongst the countries with the strongest such antipathy.
Anti-American sentiment in Pakistan

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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