Word
animus
Phoneticsan·i·mus
US/ˈænɪməs/
UK/ˈænɪməs/
Definitions
01hostility or ill will
n. a strong feeling of dislike or hatred toward someone or something.
n. a feeling of enmity, animosity, or ill will directed toward a person or entity.
“He felt a strong animus toward the company after they fired him unfairly.”
“The public animus toward the new tax policy was so intense that the government was forced to reconsider its implementation.”
Formal
Usage
Often used with the preposition 'toward' or 'against'.
Antonyms
02legal intention
n. the specific intention or purpose behind a person's actions.
n. the underlying intention, motivation, or spirit that governs a legal person's actions.
“The court looked for the animus behind the defendant's decision to leave.”
“The prosecution struggled to prove the specific animus required to elevate the charge from negligence to a deliberate criminal act.”
Formal · Technical
Usage
Commonly appears in Latin legal phrases like 'animus possidendi' (intention to possess).
Synonyms
03psychology
n. the male part of a woman's personality.
n. the masculine aspect of the feminine psyche or personality as defined in Jungian psychology.
“In her therapy session, she explored how her animus influenced her relationships.”
“Jungian analysts suggest that a woman's animus often manifests in her dreams as a personified masculine figure.”
Technical
Teaching tip
This is a highly specialized term in Jungian psychology; outside of this field, the word almost always means hostility.
Antonyms
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin animus (“the mind, in a great variety of meanings: the rational soul in man, intellect, consciousness, will, intention, courage, spirit, sensibility, feeling, passion, pride, vehemence, wrath, etc., the breath, life, soul”), from Proto-Italic anamos, from Proto-Indo-European h₂enh₁mos, from *h₂enh₁- (“to breathe”). Closely related to Latin anima, which is a feminine form.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Related words
Domains
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/animus