Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of, relating to, or characteristic of an enemy.
- adjective Feeling or showing enmity or ill will.
- adjective Being in opposition; opposed.
- adjective Unfavorable to health or well-being; inhospitable or adverse.
- noun An antagonistic person or thing.
- noun An enemy in warfare.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of or pertaining to an enemy: as, hostile ground.
- Of inimical character or tendency; having or exhibiting enmity or antagonism; antagonistic: as, a hostile manifesto; hostile criticism.
- Synonyms Averse, Adverse, Inimical, Hostile; unfriendly, warlike. Averse applies to feeling, adverse to action: as, I was very averse to his going; an adverse vote; adverse fortune. Inimical expresses both feeling and action, generally in private affairs. Hostile also expresses both feeling and action, but applies especially to public affairs; where it applies to private matters, it expresses either strong or conspicuous action or feeling, or both, or all.
- noun An enemy: specifically, in the United States, a hostile Indian; an Indian who is engaged in warfare against the whites.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Belonging or appropriate to an enemy; showing the disposition of an enemy; showing ill will and malevolence, or a desire to thwart and injure; occupied by an enemy or enemies; inimical; unfriendly
- noun colloq. An enemy; esp., an American Indian in arms against the whites; -- commonly in the plural.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Belonging or appropriate to an
enemy ; showing the disposition of an enemy; showing ill will and malevolence, or a desire to thwart and injure; occupied by an enemy or enemies; inimical; unfriendly - noun An
enemy .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective unsolicited and resisted by the management of the target company ( used of attempts to buy or take control of a business)
- noun troops belonging to the enemy's military forces
- adjective characterized by enmity or ill will
- adjective very unfavorable to life or growth
- adjective impossible to bring into friendly accord
- adjective not belonging to your own country's forces or those of an ally
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"As soon as we see them start moving towards the east, then they have what we call hostile intent, then we can target them," he said.
Gadhafi Stops Rebels in Battle for Oil Port Stephen Fidler 2011
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Scott kept his expression hostile, but beneath all the cuts and bruises, he seemed to pale.
Crescendo Becca Fitzpatrick 2010
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Scott kept his expression hostile, but beneath all the cuts and bruises, he seemed to pale.
Crescendo Becca Fitzpatrick 2010
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea threatened Thursday to increase punishment for an American who was sentenced to hard labor for illegally entering the country, citing what it called a hostile U.S. policy toward it.
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea threatened Thursday to increase punishment for an American who was sentenced to hard labor for illegally entering the country, citing what it called a hostile U.S. policy toward it.
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Their alleged crime, according to the new service, entering North Korea illegally, intending what they call hostile acts.
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The state-run news service reports they will stand trial and that their alleged crime is entering North Korea illegally, intending what they call hostile acts.
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While they did not specify what the charges would be, they have earlier said that these two were being investigated for illegally entering the country and for what they call hostile acts.
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But what about the fact that other people at the show, other women at the show might feel what you call the hostile environment.
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Now that's what I call a hostile takeover (rimshot).
Gabriel Delahaye: LiveBlogging "Kid Nation": Time Is Candy 2008
oroboros commented on the word hostile
In wordplay, a word wherein no letter can be inserted anywhere to form another word: e.g., ahem.
--Chris Cole, Wordplay
May 24, 2008
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word hostile
Hostility sounds better than hostile.
July 18, 2009