Enemy, n.; pl. Enemies.
Etymology: [OF. enemi, F. ennemi, from L. inimicus; in- (negative) + amicus friend. See Amicable.]
The cat and the mice are old enemies.
The cat attacks the mice which disturb the lion, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifteenth Night, India, Mughal court, 16th century, c. 1560. Cleveland Museum of Art.One hostile to another; one who hates, and desires or attempts the injury of, another; a foe; an adversary; as, an enemy of or to a person; an enemy to truth, or to falsehood. To all good he enemy was still. Spenser. I say unto you, Love your enemies. Matt. v. 44. The enemy (Mil.), the hostile force. In this sense it is construed with the verb and pronoun either in the singular or the plural, but more commonly in the singular; as, we have met the enemy and he is ours or they are ours. It was difficult in such a country to track the enemy. It was impossible to drive him to bay. Macaulay.
Syn. -- Foe; antagonist; opponent. See Adversary.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Enemy, a.
Hostile; inimical. [Obs.] They . . . every day grow more enemy to God. Jer. Taylor.
Shades of meaning
An enemy in private life is one who is moved by hostile feeling with active disposition to injure; but in military language all who fight on the opposite side are called enemies or collectively "the enemy," where no personal animosity may be implied; foe, which is rather a poetical and literary word, implies intensely hostile spirit and purpose. An antagonist is one who opposes and is opposed actively and with intensity of effort; an opponent, one in whom the attitude of resistance is the more prominent; a competitor, one who seeks the same object for which another is striving; antagonists in wrestling, competitors in business, opponents in debate may contend with no personal ill will; rivals in love, ambition, etc., rarely avoid inimical feeling. Adversary was formerly much used in the general sense of antagonist or opponent, but is now less common, and largely restricted to the hostile sense; an adversary is ordinarily one who not only opposes another in fact, but does so with hostile spirit, or perhaps out of pure malignity; as, the great Adversary. Compare synonyms for ambition.
Prepositions
He was the enemy of my friend in the contest.