inimical

I1N1I1M3I1C3A1L1
/ɪˈnɪ.mɪ.kəl/

adjective

Harmful in effect.

“Her inimical attitude precludes romance.”

Opposite
UncommonScrabble 12

Meanings

adjectiveinimical (comparative more inimical, superlative most inimical)

comparative more inimical · superlative most inimical

  1. Harmful in effect.

    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
    2 more examples

    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

    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
  2. Unfriendly, hostile.

    Her inimical attitude precludes romance.

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite

adjectivenot friendly

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latininimīcālis“hostile”
  2. Englishinimical

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

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Basque kaltegarri, etsai
  • kaltegarriharmful
  • etsaihostile
Bulgarian вреден, неблагоприятен
  • вреден (vreden)harmful
  • неблагоприятен (neblagoprijaten)harmful
  • враждебен (vraždeben)hostile
  • недоброжелателен (nedobroželatelen)hostile
Chinese Mandarin 有敵意的 /有敌意的
  • 有敵意的 /有敌意的 (yǒu díyì de)hostile
Dutch schadelijk, vijandig
  • schadelijkharmful
  • vijandighostile
Esperanto malamika
  • malamikahostile
French nuisible, hostile
  • nuisibleharmful
  • hostilehostile
German schädlich, feindlich
  • schädlichharmful
  • feindlichhostile
  • feindselighostile
  • unfreundlichhostile
Greek επιζήμιος, εχθρικός
  • επιζήμιος (epizímios)harmful
  • εχθρικός (echthrikós)hostile
Hindi अहित, अपकारी
  • अहित (ahit)harmful
  • अपकारी (apkārī)harmful
  • हानिकारक (hānikārak)harmful
  • अहितकर (ahitkar)harmful
  • अहित (ahit)hostile
  • अपकारी (apkārī)hostile
Latin alienus, inimicalis
  • alienushostile
  • inimicalishostile
Polish szkodliwy, nieprzyjazny
  • szkodliwyharmful
  • nieprzyjaznyhostile
  • wrogihostile
  • złowrogihostile
Russian вре́дный, недружелю́бный
  • вре́дный (vrédnyj)harmful
  • недружелю́бный (nedruželjúbnyj)hostile
  • вражде́бный (vraždébnyj)hostile
Spanish nocivo, adverso
  • nocivoharmful
  • adversoharmful
  • hostilhostile
  • inimicísimo (disused)hostile
  • enemigohostile
Swedish skadlig, fientlig
  • skadligharmful
  • fientlighostile
Ukrainian шкідли́вий, недру́жній
  • шкідли́вий (škidlývyj)harmful
  • недру́жній (nedrúžnij)hostile
  • непри́язний (neprýjaznyj)hostile
  • воро́жий (voróžyj)hostile

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

inimical. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inimical

MLA

“inimical.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inimical. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “inimical,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inimical.

Source: inimical on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.