Word.ws English Dictionary

animuses

animuses is the plural of animus.

Meaning of animus

Noun

animus (usually uncountable, plural animuses)

  1. (usually) The basic impulses and instincts which govern one's actions.
  2. (usually) A feeling of enmity, animosity or ill will.
    • The current row arose swiftly, sparked both by historical animus and jockeying over future power and place in Asia - and it surprised many observers in the depth of antipathy on both sides.2005 April 22, Christian Science Monitor
    Synonyms:
    bad blood
  3. (usually) Intention, motivation (of a legal person).
  4. (usually, Jungian psychology) The masculine aspect of the feminine psyche or personality.
    • In the Jungian model of the psyche, the male has an internalized female counterpart, the anima; while the female has an internalized masculine counterpart, the animus.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 31

Questions about animuses

What is animuses the plural of?
Animuses is the plural of animus.

Words near animuses in the dictionary

  1. animule
  2. animules
  3. Animurium
  4. animus
  5. animus furandi
  6. animuses
  7. animutation
  8. animutations
  9. animé
  10. animés
  11. Anindilyakwa

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: animuses (page history and authors); animus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “animuses.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/animuses. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.