enemy

Syllables: en·e·myUK/ˈɛnəmi/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈenəmi/

enemy noun: someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or intends injury to someone else.

Image: Gunnery Sgt. Bill Lisbon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

enemy (plural enemies)

Someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or intends injury to someone else.
- under enemy duress
- He made a lot of enemies after reducing the working hours in his department.
Synonyms:

foe, unfriend, adversary, nemesis, backfriend

Antonyms:

ally, friend
A hostile force or nation; a fighting member of such a force or nation.
- Rally together against a common enemy.
Synonyms:

foe, adversary, nemesis

Antonyms:

ally, friend
Something harmful or threatening to another
- The very thing the 16 skiers and snowboarders had sought — fresh, soft snow — instantly became the enemy. Somewhere above, a pristine meadow cracked in the shape of a lightning bolt, slicing a slab nearly 200 feet across and 3 feet deep. Gravity did the rest.2012 December 26, John Branch, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2013
(attributive) Of, by, relating to, or belonging to an enemy.
- The building was destroyed by enemy bombing.
A non-player character that tries to harm the player.
- Use gadgets like Nakishkas to fend off enemies.2008, “Story Mode”, in Cory in the House: Instruction Booklet, Burbank, California: Disney Interactive Studios; Nintendo, page 8
Synonyms:

mob

Verb

enemy (third-person singular simple present enemies, present participle enemying, simple past and past participle enemied)

To make an enemy of.
- These prelates and nobles, seeing themselves dispossessed by the death of this king don Alfonso, to whom they had adhered, and enemied with the king don Enrique his brother, whom they had deserted, were in great fear, dreading the indignation of the king, whom by letters and words they had much...1963, The Castles and the Crown: Spain, 1451-1555, page 51
- But rather the life He has lived People he met Befriended and enemied2009, Adam Stephen Alber, Greater Than My Thoughts: A Glimpse Of My Soul, page 64

enemy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

enemy in Hindi

someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or intends injury to someone else: दुश्मन duśman, शत्रु śatru, वैरी vairī, द्वेषी dveṣī, बैरी bairī, विरोधी virodhī
a hostile force or nation; a fighting member of such a force or nation: दुश्मन duśman, शत्रु śatru, शत्रु सैनिक śatru sainik
of, relating to, or belonging to an enemy: दुश्मनी duśmanī, शत्रुता śatrutā, शत्रुत्व śatrutva, शत्रु संबंधित śatru sambandhit

enemy in Tamil

someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or intends injury to someone else: இரிஞன் iriñaṉ, சத்துரு catturu, சதேரன் catēraṉ, தெவ்வன் tevvaṉ, பகைவன் pakaivaṉ, பொருநன் porunaṉ

enemy in Marathi

someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or intends injury to someone else: शत्रू śatrū
a hostile force or nation; a fighting member of such a force or nation: शत्रू śatrū

enemy in Urdu

someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or intends injury to someone else: دُشْمَن duśman, عَدُو 'adū

More languagesFewer languages

enemy in Bengali: শত্রু śotru, দুশমন duśmon, দুশমনি duśmoni
enemy in Telugu: శత్రువు śatruvu, శత్రు సైనికుడు śatru sainikuḍu, శత్రు సంబంధిత śatru sambandhita
enemy in Malayalam: ശത്രു śatru
enemy in Kannada: ಶತ್ರು śatru
enemy in Punjabi: ਦੁਸ਼ਮਣ duśmaṇ
enemy in Gujarati: દુશ્મન duśman, શત્રુ śatru
enemy in Odia: ଶତ୍ରୁ śatru
enemy in Sanskrit: अरि ari, शत्रु śatru, विपक्ष vipakṣa
enemy in Sinhala: සතුරා saturā
enemy in Assamese: শত্ৰু xotru, দুছমন dusomon
enemy in Nepali: शत्रु śatru, दुश्मन duśman
enemy in Pashto: دوښمن dux̌man, دښمن dox̌man
enemy in Tagalog: kaaway
enemy in Arabic: عَدُوّ ʕaduww, عَدُوَّة ʕaduwwa, عدو ʕadu, عَدَائِيّ ʕadāʔiyy
enemy in Malay: musuh, lawan, seteru
enemy in Indonesian: musuh, lawan
enemy in Persian: دُشْمَن dušman, خَصْم xasm, عَدُو adū, عَدو adu
enemy in Thai: ศัตรู sàt-dtruu
enemy in Vietnamese: kẻ thù, kẻ địch, địch
enemy in Myanmar: ရန်သူ ransu, ငြိုးသူရန်ဖက် ngrui:suranhpak, ရန်ဖက် ranhpak
Sindhi: دشمن dśm̃

Examples of enemy in a sentence

If you're not with me, then you're my enemy.2005, George Lucas, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, spoken by Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen):
I am a known enemy and I cannot say more than I already said.2022 March 13, Yevgenia Albats, 10:01 from the start, in Journalist risking jail to report from inside Russia speaks out, CNN:
Bureaucracy and wider features of a division of labor also facilitates the “othering” and “enemying” associated with systemic violence and makes possible the professionalization of atrocity.2014, Robert Shanafelt, Nathan W. Pino, Rethinking Serial Murder, Spree Killing, and Atrocities, page 184:

All 40 example sentences with enemy

Synonyms of enemy

5 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of enemy

Forms of enemy

Noun
plural	enemies
alternative form (obsolete)	enemie
Verb
third-person singular present	enemies
present participle	enemying
past participle	enemied
past	enemied

Plural of enemy: enemies

Origin of enemy

From Middle English enemy, enemye, enmy, borrowed from Old French enemi, anemi (Modern French ennemi), from Latin inimīcus, from in- (“not”) + amīcus (“friend”). Displaced Middle English fend (“enemy”), from Old English fēond (“enemy”), which survived into Modern English as fiend, but with a different meaning. Doublet of inimic.

Phrases with enemy

4 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about enemy

What does enemy mean?: Enemy means someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or intends injury to someone else.
What is enemy in Hindi?: Enemy in Hindi is दुश्मन (duśman), शत्रु (śatru), वैरी (vairī). See Enemy meaning in Hindi.
How do you use enemy in a sentence?: If you're not with me, then you're my enemy.
What part of speech is enemy?: Enemy can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce enemy?: Enemy is pronounced /ˈɛnəmi/ (UK).
What is the plural of enemy?: The plural of enemy is enemies.

Words near enemy in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: enemy (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-enemy.ogg.

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