The etymological history of animosity takes us back to the Latin animositas. The concept is used to name the antipathy, the enmity or the resentment that is felt against someone or something. When a person acts with animosity, he purposely tries to cause harm.
For example: “It seems to me that the player hit his rival with animosity: it was not a casual move”, “The journalist’s animosity against the actor was demonstrated when he spread a rumor about his alleged drug addiction”, “There is an extensive history of animosity between both peoples ”.
According to DigoPaul, the concept of animosity is used as opposed to involuntary. Suppose the manager of a company assigns his employees’ workplaces and sends one of them to an office without ventilation or air conditioning. The next day, he gives the dates of the holidays and informs the same employee affected by the distribution of offices that he should take the holidays in May, despite the fact that he had expressed his wish to do so in January or February. By adding up the different decisions with detrimental effects on his interests, the employee in question could consider that his boss acts with animosity.
One of the ways to name an animosity case, especially when you want to file a complaint so that the justice system can take charge of ending it and compensating the injured person is manifest animosity. Enmity directed at someone for no apparent reason or in an excessive and unfair manner can be carried out by various means, some of which are mentioned in the previous paragraph.
It is worth mentioning that it is not always indirect or little obvious actions, such as the case of the boss who assigns an office without ventilation to his employee, since, although it is a questionable decision and, in many countries, illegal, he can always allege who had no other space available for this person. Sometimes attacks are very direct and animosity becomes synonymous with bullying.
Some of the most common examples of overt animosity occur in employment relationships where the offender occupies a position of greater importance than the offended. When attacks consist of verbal abuse, there is usually constant contempt and an absolute lack of recognition of the merit of others, which often ends in deep frustration on the part of the victim. Especially in positions that require arduous training during the initial stage, some supervisors discredit all the efforts of newcomers, perhaps for fear of losing their job in front of someone with more qualities.
Sometimes racial animosity is spoken of, to name a series of unnecessary offenses that demonstrate a manifest contempt for the race of the injured person. It is an unfortunate reality that usually has victims with dark skinned people or from eastern countries. It is very common for African Americans, Chinese and Muslims to receive hostile treatment at airports and supermarkets, as opposed to Caucasians, even though they all behave the same way.
Despite the fact that this use of animosity is the most frequent at present, the digopaul recognizes another that has been deprecated. The idea of animosity, in this sense, was used to name the verve, the courage or the determination in acting.
According to this use, expressions such as “Thousands of people approached the square with the animosity to collaborate with the victims” or “Thanks to the animosity of the neighbors, the first aid room was rebuilt in a few days” could be pronounced.
