hostile
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French hostile, from Latin hostīlis, from hostis (“enemy”). Displaced Old English fēondlīċ.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈhɒstaɪl/, /ˈhɒstəl/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈhɑstəl/, /ˈhɑstaɪl/
Audio (US) (file) - Homophone: hostel (one pronunciation)
- Rhymes: -ɒstəl
Adjective
hostile (comparative more hostile, superlative most hostile)
- Not friendly; appropriate to an enemy; showing the disposition of an enemy; showing ill will and malevolence or a desire to thwart and injure.
- Synonyms: inimical, unfriendly
- a hostile force
- hostile intentions
- a hostile country
- hostile to a sudden change
- Aggressive; antagonistic.
- Unwilling.
- Of a hostile takeover.
- Microsoft may go hostile in its bid for Yahoo as soon as Friday, according to a published report.
Synonyms
- antagonistic
- hateful
- See also Thesaurus:hostile
Antonyms
- friendly
Derived terms
- hostile possession
- hostile witness
- user-hostile
Related terms
- hostility
- hostilely
- host
- See also Thesaurus:combative
Translations
belonging or appropriate to an enemy
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antagonistic
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Noun
hostile (plural hostiles)
- (chiefly in the plural) An enemy.
- 2021 February 3, Drachinifel, Guadalcanal Campaign - Santa Cruz (IJN 2 : 2 USN), archived from the original on 4 December 2022, retrieved 11 December 2022, 10:55 from the start:
- The Japanese got their attack in first. About ten minutes after passing the U.S. aircraft, they spotted Hornet (local weather patterns temporarily concealing Enterprise). Things had improved a little bit compared to the Eastern Solomons, and three dozen F4F Wildcats on combat air patrol were vectored onto the oncoming hostiles, but once that initial task was accomplished, things began to collapse back into the cacophony and chaos that was all too familiar to those aboard the Enterprise, meaning that the end result was round about the same […]
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Translations
an enemy
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Anagrams
- Elohist, eoliths, holiest, sholtie
French
Etymology
From Middle French hostile, hostif (this form with a change of suffix), borrowed from Latin hostilis.
Pronunciation
- (mute h) IPA(key): /ɔs.til/
Audio (file)
Adjective
hostile (plural hostiles)
- hostile
- unfriendly
Synonyms
- ennemi
Related terms
- hostilité
- ost
Further reading
- “hostile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin
Adjective
hostīle
- nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of hostīlis
References
- hostile in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)