antipathy

noun

1. (uncountable)Often followed by against, between, for, or to: a (deep) feeling of dislike or repugnance, normally towards a person and less often towards a thing, often without any conscious reasoning; aversion, distaste, hostility; (countable) an instance of this.

   “For of our Alphabet the .P. doth omenouſly begin / Of theſe this much diſtaſted Ranck, […] vvere other Rankes not free / Of Publique-vveales Antipathie, prooling and peruerſe, P.”

   “A Sect, vvhoſe chief Devotion lies / In odde perverſe Antipathies; / In falling out vvith that or this, / And finding ſomevvhat ſtill amiſs: […]”

   “[A] man may cry out against ſin, of policy; but he cannot abhor it, but by virtue of a godly antipathy againſt it: I have heard many cry out againſt ſin in the Pulpit, vvho yet can abide it vvell enough in the heart, and houſe, and converſation.”

   “After dinner, a very honest fellow chanced to let a pun fall from him; his neighbour cried out, "To the infirmary;" at the same time pretending to be sick at it, as having the same natural antipathy to a pun, which some have to a cat.”

   “Henry himſelf, vvho had ſeen moſt of his near friends and relations periſh in the field or on the ſcaffold, and vvho had been expoſed him his ovvn perſon to many hardſhips and dangers, had imbibed a violent antipathy to the York party, vvhich no time nor experience vvere ever able to efface.”

2. (uncountable)Natural contrariety or incompatibility between things, as a result of which they negatively affect or oppose each other; (countable) an instance of this.

   “Oil and water have antipathy.”

   “[…] Tangible Bodies haue an Antipathy vvith Aire; And if they finde any Liquid Body, that is more denſe, neere them, they vvill dravv it: And after they haue dravvne it, they vvill condenſe it more and in effect incorporate it; For vvee ſee that a Spunge, or vvooll, or Sugar, or a vvoollen Cloth, being put but in part, in vvater, or vvine, vvill dravv the Liquor higher, and beyond the place, vvhere the vvater or vvine commeth.”

   “Every one knovvs that there are among Brute Creatures many natural Averſions and Antipathies, vvhich direct ſuch Beings as are void of Reaſon to fly from thoſe Animals vvhich ſeek their Deſtruction.”

   “Now between Mars and Luna, the one red, t'other white, the one hot, t'other cold and so forth, stands, as I have told you, a natural antipathy, or, as you say, hatred. Which antipathy their creatures do inherit.”

3. (countable)A person or thing that one has a (deep) feeling of dislike or repugnance towards; an anathema, a bête noire, a bugbear.

   “Let him be to thee, an Antipathy, / A thing thy nature ſvveates at, and turnes backvvard: […]”

   “Dr. Slicer is decidedly one of my antipathies and I shall not go to ride with him. Why has he taken to coming here?”

4. (countable, obsolete)A person or thing that has a (deep) feeling of dislike or repugnance towards another person or thing; a hater.

   “And therefore having firſt vvith horror vveigh'd / VVhat tis to die, and to die yong, to part vvith / All pleaſures, and delights: laſtly, to goe / VVhere all Antipathies to comfort dvvell / Furies behind, about thee, and before thee, / […] let deſpayre / Preuent the hangmans ſvvord, and on this ſcaffold / Make thy firſt entrance into Hell.”

5. (countable, uncountable)The quality of being antipathetic: not easily united by grafting.