Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Injurious or harmful in effect; adverse.
  • adjective Unfriendly; hostile.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having the disposition or temper of an enemy; unfriendly; hostile: chiefly applied to private enmity.
  • Adverse; hurtful; repugnant.
  • Synonyms Averse, Adverse, etc. (see hostile), unfriendly, antagonistic, opposed, hurtful.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having the disposition or temper of an enemy; unfriendly; unfavorable; -- chiefly applied to private, as hostile is to public, enmity.
  • adjective Opposed in tendency, influence, or effects; antagonistic; inconsistent; incompatible; adverse; repugnant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Harmful in effect.
  • adjective Unfriendly, hostile.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not friendly

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin inimīcālis, from Latin inimīcus, enemy; see enemy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Latin inimicus “enemy”; Latin in- not and amicus friendly.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Note to self:

    compare inimitable

    inimitable- peerless. Antonym: common

    inimical- hostile. Antonym: amicable

    August 16, 2007

  • Might best be avoided.

    November 20, 2009

  • "Roland had never in his life seen such animals or countryside, and it made his skin want to crawl right off his flesh. It was inimical, but that was not the problem. It was alien-- that was the problem. From The Wastelands by Stephen King.

    January 9, 2011

  • The birds are as loquacious as women: the bees as inimical to silence as children.

    Robert Lynd, "Silence"

    July 27, 2011