Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The state of being hostile; antagonism or enmity. See Synonyms at enmity.
- n. A hostile act.
- n. Acts of war; overt warfare.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The state of being hostile; inimical feeling; antagonism.
- n. Hostile action; open opposition by war or other means; especially, in the plural, acts of warfare.
- n. A hostile act which follows a declaration of war.
- n. Synonyms Animosity, Ill-will, Enmity (see animosity); unfriendliness, opposition, violence, aggression.
- n. War, fighting.
Wiktionary
- n. uncountable The state of being hostile.
- n. countable A hostile action, especially a military action. See hostilities for specific plural definition.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. State of being hostile; public or private enemy; unfriendliness; animosity.
- n. An act of an open enemy; a hostile deed; especially in the plural, acts of warfare; attacks of an enemy. See hostilities
WordNet 3.0
- n. a hostile (very unfriendly) disposition
- n. a state of deep-seated ill-will
- n. the feeling of a hostile person
- n. violent action that is hostile and usually unprovoked
Etymologies
- From Late Latin hostilitas. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“From the time MacDonald was admitted, his family felt that they had "to beg" staff to treat him, only to be met with what they described as "hostility".”
The Guardian: The NHS must accelerate its reforms on treating learning disabled patients
“Jim asks, "If this hostility is anywhere near the typical Internet experience, is it any wonder that computing and IT are increasingly losing the women?”
“We have here an unusual opportunity to appraise the human mind, or to examine, in Earth terms, the roles of good and evil in a man -- his negative side, which you call hostility, lust, violence, and his positive side, which Earth people express as compassion,”
“Two lawyers who formerly worked in the department's Voting Rights section have described what they called hostility from senior officials and career attorneys to pursuing accusations under the Voting Rights Act of minorities harassing white voters.”
“Legislature, and what he called a hostility to public education.”
“Separating church and state is not an expression of hostility to religion, but instead affirms the lessons that history teaches about the importance of government being strictly secular.”
Simon & Schuster: The Conservative Assault on the Constitution
“Israel strategically has a choice of attacking these ships and risking hostility from the EU (in the form of cancelled Israeli arms orders) and the US (in the form of delayed/restructured/reduced aid), or they give up on the blockade.”
“The argument that police hostility is more prevalent with African-Americans may be true to some extent, but this situation was clearly provoked and the outcome was inevitable.”
“The notion that government neutrality equates to government hostility is absurd.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Mojave Cross Decision (Salazar v. Buono) Handed Down
“Ahmadinejad's supporters have been ushered along peacefully, whereas Mousavi's supporters have faced hostility from the police and assertions that the protest is illegal.”
The Huffington Post: Iran Election Live-Blogging (Tuesday June 16)
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hostility’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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words unknown
repeat!!!
laissez faire, propensity, punitive, explicit, whim, extenuating, distort, gross, grossly, hearsay, dispel, apprehensive and 113 more...
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GRE AWA
escalating, vehement, vehemence, hostility, paparazzi, regime, irrespective, scoop, exaggerated, overblown, unfetter, scrupulous and 272 more...
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Gotim
Aries, fire, chaos, destruction, Mars, aggression, bold, competetive, conflict, raw, black, red and 165 more...
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Whatever Works (2009)
Words from 2009 'Whatever Works' film.
fault, racket, unto, flaw, fallacious, notion, decent, embalm, filch, delusion, delusions of gran..., grandeur and 135 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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ari
words
craven, perennial, incumbent, infraction, truancy, foreboding, missgiving, understudy, upkeep, withdrawal, retreat, underscore and 95 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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8/9/10 Tooth and Nail
boisterous, accosted, impeccably, amiable, indifferent, animosity, exploit, alluring, placid, poised, beguiling, vitality and 35 more...
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MEC3 Lesson 142
launch, rudeness, hostility, incivility, nastiness, unkindness, occur, crusade, well-meaning, fail, disguise, dish up and 18 more...
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if you don't have anything nice to say
animosity, twit, fury, scorn, intrusive, abomination, affront, aggressive, antisocial, apalling, armada, avaricious and 85 more...
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Vocabulary
omnibus, crooked, mettle, hostility, shoplift, immersion, disruption, frivolous, ludic, flamboyant, heist, fictitious and 3 more...
Tweets
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