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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

inimical en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ɪˈnɪ.mɪ.kəl/
  • (US) audio

Etymology

From Late Latin inimīcālis (“hostile”), from inimīcus (“enemy”) (from in- (“not”) + amīcus (“friend”)) + -ālis.

Meanings

  1. Harmful in effect.
    • From its inception, the index has provided a window onto the history of the book, for it took the advent of a particular type of book — the codex, a sheaf of pages fastened along one edge — to make an index a practical possibility. The progenitor of the modern bound book, the codex gradually supplanted the scroll, a medium inimical to the indexer’s art. 2022 February 15, Margalit Fox, “Look It Up? Only if You’re Dishonest and Ignorant”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 30 Jul 2022:
    • She doesn’t want to touch it, and indeed every particle of her screams against doing so because it is somehow inimical to her. 2020, N. K. Jemisin, The City We Became, Orbit, page 178:
    • Slaves knew that some of the treatments worsened problems and, perhaps most important, they realized that a master's interest in their fitness for work was sometimes inimical to their health. 2008, Harriet A. Washington, “Southern Discomfort”, in Medical Apartheid, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, page 66:
  2. Unfriendly, hostile.
    • Her inimical attitude precludes romance.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most inimical Degree=Sup lexicographic
more inimical Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Antonyms

amicable

Deriveds

inimicalness · uninimical · inimicality · inimically

Relateds

enemy

Synonyms

inimicable · inimic · antagonistic

Translations (47)

kk дұшпандық (hostile) · ru вре́дный (harmful) · eu kaltegarri (harmful) · de schädlich (harmful) · hi अपकारी (hostile) · bg недоброжелателен (hostile) · uk недру́жній (hostile) · fr nuisible (harmful) · hi हानिकारक (harmful) · gv neuchaarjoil (hostile) · nl schadelijk (harmful) · uk непри́язний (hostile) · cmn 有敵意的 /有敌意的 (hostile) · pl szkodliwy (harmful) · pl wrogi (hostile) · pl złowrogi (hostile) · de feindlich (hostile) · la inimicalis (hostile) · es enemigo (hostile) · pl nieprzyjazny (hostile) · ru недружелю́бный (hostile) · hi अहितकर (harmful) · sv skadlig (harmful) · bg вреден (harmful) · eu etsai (hostile) · es adverso (harmful) · hi अहित (harmful) · fr hostile (hostile) · nl vijandig (hostile) · bg неблагоприятен (harmful) · es nocivo (harmful) · uk воро́жий (hostile) · es inimicísimo (disused) (hostile) · bg враждебен (hostile) · de feindselig (hostile) · hi अहित (hostile) · es hostil (hostile) · ru вражде́бный (hostile) · el εχθρικός (hostile) · uk шкідли́вий (harmful) · de unfreundlich (hostile) · hi अपकारी (harmful) · el επιζήμιος (harmful) · sv fientlig (hostile) · la alienus (hostile) · kk зиянды (harmful) · eo malamika (hostile)