| English Dictionary |
HOSTILE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does hostile mean?
• HOSTILE (noun)
The noun HOSTILE has 1 sense:
1. troops belonging to the enemy's military forces
Familiarity information: HOSTILE used as a noun is very rare.
• HOSTILE (adjective)
The adjective HOSTILE has 5 senses:
1. characterized by enmity or ill will
2. not belonging to your own country's forces or those of an ally
3. impossible to bring into friendly accord
4. very unfavorable to life or growth
5. unsolicited and resisted by the management of the target company (used of attempts to buy or take control of a business)
Familiarity information: HOSTILE used as an adjective is common.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Troops belonging to the enemy's military forces
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Context example:
the platoon ran into a pack of hostiles
Hypernyms ("hostile" is a kind of...):
military personnel; soldiery; troops (soldiers collectively)
Domain category:
armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)
Antonym:
friendly (troops belonging to or allied with your own military forces)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Characterized by enmity or ill will
Context example:
hostile actions
Similar:
bitter (proceeding from or exhibiting great hostility or animosity)
inimical; unfriendly (not friendly)
opponent; opposing (characterized by active hostility)
ill (indicating hostility or enmity)
head-on (characterized by direct opposition)
dirty (expressing or revealing hostility or dislike)
at loggerheads (in a dispute or confrontation)
antagonistic; antipathetic; antipathetical (characterized by antagonism or antipathy)
aggressive; belligerent (characteristic of an enemy or one eager to fight)
Also:
unfriendly (not disposed to friendship or friendliness)
aggressive (having or showing determination and energetic pursuit of your ends)
hateful (evoking or deserving hatred)
offensive (for the purpose of attack rather than defense)
unpeaceful (not peaceful)
violent (acting with or marked by or resulting from great force or energy or emotional intensity)
Antonym:
amicable (characterized by friendship and good will)
Derivation:
hostility (the feeling of a hostile person)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not belonging to your own country's forces or those of an ally
Context example:
hostile naval and air forces
Antonym:
friendly (of or belonging to your own country's forces or those of an ally)
Derivation:
hostilities (fighting; acts of overt warfare)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Impossible to bring into friendly accord
Context example:
hostile factions
Similar:
irreconcilable; unreconcilable (impossible to reconcile)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Very unfavorable to life or growth
Synonyms:
hostile; uncongenial; unfriendly
Context example:
the unfriendly environment at high altitudes
Similar:
inhospitable (unfavorable to life or growth)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Unsolicited and resisted by the management of the target company (used of attempts to buy or take control of a business)
Context example:
hostile bid
Similar:
aggressive (having or showing determination and energetic pursuit of your ends)
Domain category:
business; business enterprise; commercial enterprise (the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects)
Derivation:
hostility (violent action that is hostile and usually unprovoked)
Context examples
This first theft marked Buck as fit to survive in the hostile Northland environment.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
He no longer lived in a hostile environment.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
"I suppose you will go and stay with your brother and sister, Miss Dashwood, when they come to town," said Lucy, returning, after a cessation of hostile hints, to the charge.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
But I warn you now, and not so much for your own good as for mine, that I shall shoot you the moment you attempt a hostile act.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Although the sea is a hostile environment for plankton, this grouping behaviour increases their chances of survival and explains why the oceans are full of these microbes.
(Study by UGR and MIT reveals microbial plankton live in complex communities, University of Granada)
A hostile or warlike attitude aroused by a real or supposed wrong.
(Anger, NCI Thesaurus)
Certainly, just as spies frequent hostile camps.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
They involve a pattern of hostile, aggressive, or disruptive behaviors for more than 6 months.
(Child Behavior Disorders, NIH)
The same hostile roof now again rose before me: my prospects were doubtful yet; and I had yet an aching heart.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He looked so hostile that I thought he was in for another homicidal fit, so I blew my whistle.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Mind the goats so that you will drink their milk." (Albanian proverb)
"Do good and throw it in sea." (Arabic proverb)
"Through falls and stumbles, one learns to walk." (Corsican proverb)