Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INIMICAL

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connect today's word to others: If you like, you can think of today's inimical as the adjective form of enmity, a noun we've checked out before. They both come from the same Latin word, amicus, meaning "friend." So, etymologically speaking, your enemy is your non-friend; your enmity is your unfriendly feelings, and something inimical is unfriendly, or enemy-like. When it comes to usage, though, enmity and inimicality are slightly different. I'm oversimplifying, but basically we use enmity to talk about people and inimical to talk about things. That is, we talk about the enmity between people as if it's a feeling of hostility and unfriendliness, but we talk about one thing being inimical to some other thing by its very nature: being harmful, hurtful, injurious in some way. In addition to harmful, hurtful, and injurious, below are some more synonyms of inimical. Can you recall them? 1. Det______al things are damaging to someone or something. 2. A____se things (especially conditions) are harmful, unhelpful, or undesirable. 3. Per______s things are evil, deadly, or destructive, often in a way that's sneaky or gradual. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) make your point with... "INIMICAL" From a Latin word meaning "enemy" (literally "un-friend"), our word "inimical" means "unfriendly, hostile, harmful." In other words, inimical things are hostile and harmful, like an enemy. Pronunciation: in NIM ick ull Part of speech: Adjective. (Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late." They can be used in two ways: 1. Right before a noun, as in "an inimical force." 2. After a linking verb, as in "It was inimical" or "It's inimical to us.") Other forms: inimically, inimicality (or, if you prefer, "inimicalness") How to use it: Pick "inimical" instead of its more familiar synonyms ("hostile," "harmful," "hurtful," "destructive," etc.) when you need to be formal and emphatic. Sometimes we simply describe things (or even people) as inimical: inimical countries, inimical gestures, inimical attitudes, inimical forces, inimical critics. More often, we talk about things being inimical to other things: a habit inimical to your health, a doctrine inimical to critical thinking, a practice inimical to democracy, a law inimical to civil liberties, an agenda of theirs that's inimical to our interests, etc. examples: In Kansas, the bitterly cold winters were inimical to our health. "When he fired his carbine to miss he was committing treason against his unit, and he didn’t care. ... To inflict any hurt on anything for any purpose became inimical to him."    — John Steinbeck, East of Eden, 1952 study it now: Look away from the screen to define "inimical" without saying "injurious" or "adverse." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "(In our family, at our school or workplace, or in any other specific environment), _____ (is/are) banned, inimical as (it is, or they are) to (peace, harmony, productivity, etc.)." Example: "At the preschool, words like 'stupid' and 'idiot' are banned, inimical as they are to young children's self-esteem." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. Complete the Limerick! In each issue this month, finish off the last line of the poem with a word or phrase we've checked out before. From the previous issue: He publishes uninterruptedly, His stories rife with moribundity. Stephen King’s mind Is one of a kind, Brimming with gory fecundity. Try this one today: With paparazzi photographing us, Their dizzying flash bulbs distracting us, It's a bad time to note-- And we don't have our coats-- That the dresses we donned are __________. review today's word: 1. A close opposite of INIMICAL is A. FAVORABLE. B. STRUCTURED. C. COMFORTABLE. 2. They shouldn't dismiss the truth just because it's inimical to _____. A. do so as a group B. their dearly-held myths C. issue a public retraction Answers are below. a final word: Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From Liesl's blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. A 2. B