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In inimical, one finds both a friend and an enemy. The word descends from Latin inimicus, which combines amicus, meaning "friend," with the negative prefix in-, meaning "not." In current English, inimical rarely describes a person, however. Instead, it is generally used to describe forces, concepts, or situations that are in some way harmful or hostile. For example, high inflation may be called inimical to economic growth. Inimicus is also an ancestor of enemy, whereas amicus gave us the much more congenial amicable (meaning "friendly" or "peaceful") and amiable (meaning "agreeable" or "friendly").

Examples of inimical in a Sentence

received an inimical response rather than the anticipated support laws designed to enhance national security that some regard as inimical to cherished freedoms

Recent Examples on the Web To Christian families, this lawsuit serves as the latest exhibit in a long line of evidence that public schools are inimical to their faith. — Cameron Hilditch, National Review, "Classroom Busybodies Ban a ‘Jesus Loves Me’ Mask," 13 Nov. 2020 Such concerns either seem irrelevant or inimical to the interests of Trump county residents. — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, "Column: With Biden’s election, Democrats expanded their grip on the productive economy," 11 Nov. 2020 This is inimical to a rebalancing program but is more consistent with Mr. Xi’s authoritarian impulses. — Joseph C. Sternberg, WSJ, "Beijing’s Covid Recovery Isn’t So Enviable," 22 Oct. 2020 This has occasionally led to fights with other conservatives, who regard some of the freshman senator’s proposals as inimical to free markets and limited government. — W. James Antle Iii, Washington Examiner, "Josh Hawley, the populist policy wonk," 19 Oct. 2020 Furthermore, stigmatizing people for their weight would be inimical to the current reckoning with racial injustice, as African American women and Latino children are the most disproportionately affected by obesity in the United States. — Chin Jou, Scientific American, "Another Misguided 'War' on Obesity," 23 Aug. 2020 Ron Taber, co-chairman of Latter-day Saint Democrats of America, told supporters during an online event Tuesday that Trump's policies on immigration and his response to the coronavirus are inimical to the Mormon faith. — Nicholas Rowan, Washington Examiner, "Trump looks to Mormons to win Arizona," 11 Aug. 2020 Here science and faith are not seen as inimical to one another, but as working together, hand-in-glove. — Tulasi Srinivas, The Conversation, "India’s goddesses of contagion provide protection in the pandemic – just don’t make them angry," 15 June 2020 The prosecution of them, for this reason, will seldom fail to agitate the passions of the whole community, and to divide it into parties more or less friendly or inimical to the accused. — Dan Mclaughlin, National Review, "You Can’t Ignore Politics in Impeachment," 11 Oct. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'inimical.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.