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Wiktionary

antipathy

English

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WOTD – 4 August 2024

Etymology

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PIE word
*h₂énti

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 (antipátheia, “suffering instead”), Koine Greek ἀντῐπάθειᾰ (antipátheia, “contrary affection; contrast; counteraction; opposition”), from ἀντῐπᾰθής (antipathḗs, “(adjective) felt mutually; in return for suffering; (noun) remedy for suffering”) (from ἀντι- (anti-, prefix meaning ‘against’) + πᾰ́θος (páthos, “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 (-ēs, suffix forming third-declension adjectives)) + -ειᾰ (-eia, suffix forming feminine adjectives and nouns).[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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antipathy (countable and uncountable, plural antipathies)

  1. (uncountable) Often followed by against, between, for, or to: a (deep) feeling of dislike or repugnance, normally towards a person and less often towards a thing, often without any conscious reasoning; aversion, distaste, hostility; (countable) an instance of this.
    Synonyms: contrariety, disgust, enmity, hatred, ill feeling, ill will, opposition
    Antonym: sympathy
    • 1606, William Warner, “The Fourteenth Booke. Chapter LXXX.”, in A Continuance of Albions England: […], London: […] Felix Kyngston [and Richard Bradock?] for George Potter, […], →OCLC, page 344:
      For of our Alphabet the .P. doth omenouſly begin / Of theſe this much diſtaſted Ranck, […] vvere other Rankes not free / Of Publique-vveales Antipathie, prooling and peruerſe, P.
    • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “Canto I”, in Hudibras. The First Part. […], London: […] J. G. for Richard Marriot, […], →OCLC, page 8:
      A Sect, vvhoſe chief Devotion lies / In odde perverſe Antipathies; / In falling out vvith that or this, / And finding ſomevvhat ſtill amiſs: […]
    • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 112:
      [A] man may cry out against ſin, of policy; but he cannot abhor it, but by virtue of a godly antipathy againſt it: I have heard many cry out againſt ſin in the Pulpit, vvho yet can abide it vvell enough in the heart, and houſe, and converſation.
    • 1712 July 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “WEDNESDAY, June 25, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 440; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 172:
      After dinner, a very honest fellow chanced to let a pun fall from him; his neighbour cried out, "To the infirmary;" at the same time pretending to be sick at it, as having the same natural antipathy to a pun, which some have to a cat.
      The spelling has been modernized.
    • 1759, David Hume, “[Henry VII.] Chapter I.”, in The History of England, under the House of Tudor. […], volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 4:
      Henry himſelf, vvho had ſeen moſt of his near friends and relations periſh in the field or on the ſcaffold, and vvho had been expoſed him his ovvn perſon to many hardſhips and dangers, had imbibed a violent antipathy to the York party, vvhich no time nor experience vvere ever able to efface.
    • 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter V, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, pages 124–125:
      Ever since the fatal night, the end of my labours, and the beginning of my misfortunes, I had conceived a violent antipathy even to the name of natural philosophy.
    • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VIII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 164–165:
      Truly I am one very likely to encourage romance in any young lady! Did you ever know me to patronise moonlight walks, or talk even forgivingly of cottages and roses? and have I not a natural antipathy to honeysuckle?
    • 1853 January, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “The Cleopatra”, in Villette. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 77:
      Her personal appearance, her repulsive manners, her often unmanageable disposition, irritated his temper, and inspired him with strong antipathy; a feeling he was too apt to conceive when his taste was offended or his will thwarted.
    • 1853, George Grote, “Cyrus the Younger and the Ten Thousand Greeks”, in History of Greece, volume XI, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, part II (Continuation of Historical Greece), pages 66–67:
      [I]t appears that Cyrus [the Younger] would have been victorious, had he been able to repress that passionate burst of antipathy which drove him like a madman against his brother [Artaxerxes II].
    • 1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter XI.”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC, page 257:
      Now when the master-at-arms noticed whence came that greasy fluid streaming before his feet, he must have taken it—to some extent wilfully, perhaps—not for the mere accident it assuredly was, but for the sly escape of a spontaneous feeling on Billy's part more or less answering to the antipathy on his own.
    • 1917 June, Gilbert H[ovey] Grosvenor, “Our State Flowers: The Floral Emblem Chosen by the Commonwealths [The Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.)]”, in Gilbert H. Grosvenor, editor, National Geographic, volume XXXI, number 6, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 488, column 2:
      The sagebrush belongs to the composite family, and its immediate cousins are widely distributed. They are known as the artemisias, and there are a host of them, many with important uses in the economy of civilization. Artemisia absinthium is popularly known as wormwood; from it comes the bitter, aromatic liquor known as eau or crême d'absinthe. Many of its cousins grow in Asia and Europe, including the mugwort, used by the Germans as a seasoning in cookery; southernwood, used by the British to drive away moths from linen and woolens and to force newly swarmed bees, which have a peculiar antipathy for it, into the hive; and tarragon, used by the Russians as an ingredient for pickling and in the preparation of fish sauce.
    • 2016 November 4, Spencer Ackerman, “‘The FBI is Trumpland’: Anti-Clinton atmosphere spurred leaking, sources say”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-06-24:
      Deep antipathy to Hillary Clinton exists within the FBI, multiple bureau sources have told the Guardian, spurring a rapid series of leaks damaging to her campaign just days before the election.
  2. (uncountable) Natural contrariety or incompatibility between things, as a result of which they negatively affect or oppose each other; (countable) an instance of this.
    Antonym: sympathy
    Oil and water have antipathy.
    • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “I. Century. [Experiment in Consort Touching the Version and Transmutation of Aire into Water.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], paragraph 80, page 25, →OCLC:
      […] Tangible Bodies haue an Antipathy vvith Aire; And if they finde any Liquid Body, that is more denſe, neere them, they vvill dravv it: And after they haue dravvne it, they vvill condenſe it more and in effect incorporate it; For vvee ſee that a Spunge, or vvooll, or Sugar, or a vvoollen Cloth, being put but in part, in vvater, or vvine, vvill dravv the Liquor higher, and beyond the place, vvhere the vvater or vvine commeth.
    • 1714 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Richard Steele, “February 2. [1714].”, in The Englishman: Being the Sequel of the Guardian, collected edition, number 52, London: […] Sam[uel] Buckley […], published 1714, →OCLC, page 332:
      Every one knovvs that there are among Brute Creatures many natural Averſions and Antipathies, vvhich direct ſuch Beings as are void of Reaſon to fly from thoſe Animals vvhich ſeek their Deſtruction.
    • 1910, Rudyard Kipling, “A Doctor of Medicine”, in Rewards and Fairies, London: Macmillan and Co., […], →OCLC, page 257:
      Now between Mars and Luna, the one red, t'other white, the one hot, t'other cold and so forth, stands, as I have told you, a natural antipathy, or, as you say, hatred. Which antipathy their creatures do inherit.
  3. (countable) A person or thing that one has a (deep) feeling of dislike or repugnance towards; an anathema, a bête noire, a bugbear.
  4. (countable, obsolete) A person or thing that has a (deep) feeling of dislike or repugnance towards another person or thing; a hater.
    • 1620 (first performance; published 1622), Philip Messenger [i.e., Philip Massinger], Thomas Dekker, The Virgin Martir, a Tragedie. […], London: […] Bernard Alsop for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, Act IV, signature K, recto:
      And therefore having firſt vvith horror vveigh'd / VVhat tis to die, and to die yong, to part vvith / All pleaſures, and delights: laſtly, to goe / VVhere all Antipathies to comfort dvvell / Furies behind, about thee, and before thee, / […] let deſpayre / Preuent the hangmans ſvvord, and on this ſcaffold / Make thy firſt entrance into Hell.

Derived terms

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Translations

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person or thing that one has a (deep) feeling of dislike or repugnance towards — see anathema,‎ bête noire,‎ bugbear

See also

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References

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  1. ^ “antipathy, n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “antipathy, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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