'antimasonry' originates from Modern English, specifically formed from the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti') and the word 'masonry' (from Old French 'maçonnerie'), where 'anti-' meant 'against' and 'maçon' meant 'mason'.

'antimasonry' changed from the 19th-century label 'Anti-Masonry' used for a political and social movement (notably in the United States in the 1820s–1830s) and eventually became the modern English noun 'antimasonry'.

Initially, it meant 'organized opposition to Freemasonry', and this meaning has largely remained the same in modern usage.