public enemy

P p

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- /ˈpʌb lɪk ˈe-nə-mē/
- /ˈpʌblɪk ˈenəmi/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- /ˈpʌb lɪk ˈe-nə-mē/

Definitions of public enemy words

noun public enemy a person or thing considered a danger or menace to the public, especially a wanted criminal widely sought by the F.B.I. and local police forces. 1
noun public enemy a nation or government with which one's own is at war. 1
noun public enemy a notorious person, such as a criminal, who is regarded as a menace to the public 0
noun public enemy a government with which one's country is at war 0
noun public enemy a hardened criminal or other person who is a menace to society 0

See all 5 definitions of public enemy

Information block about the term

Origin of public enemy

First appearance:

before 1750

One of the 47% newest English words

First recorded in 1750-60

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Public enemy

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Public enemy

public enemy popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 36% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

According to our data about 56% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

public enemy usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer