Antipathist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who harbors or openly expresses a strong feeling of dislike or opposition toward someone or something
2. Someone characterized by deep aversion or hostility toward a particular person, group, or thing
3. An individual who demonstrates or voices intense antipathy and resistance toward a specific target

Etymology: Antipathy comes from Greek "antipatheia," literally "feeling against," built from "anti" (against) and "pathos" (feeling, suffering). The suffix "-ist" marks a person who holds or practises something, so an antipathist is someone who feels hostility toward a particular thing or group. The pattern is the same as in "-ist" words like "royalist" or "pacifist," where a belief or stance becomes a label for the person who holds it. The word is a regular formation in English rather than a famous coinage. Its base, antipathy, carries the Greek sense of an inborn or deep-seated dislike, which is why the noun was used for natural aversions long before it described political or social hostility. The agent form simply turns that feeling into a description of the person who has it.