inimical: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for January 23 is:

inimical \in-NIM-ih-kul\ adjective
1 : being adverse often by reason of hostility or malevolence
2 a : having the disposition of an enemy : hostile *b : reflecting or indicating hostility : unfriendly

Example sentence:
When he called the company?s help line, Jared was startled by the cold, inimical voice of the customer service representative.

Did you know?
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").

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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