hospitable

[hos-pi-tuh-buhl, ho-spit-uh-buhl]

adjective

1. receiving or treating guests or strangers warmly and generously.

   a hospitable family.

2. characterized by or betokening warmth and generosity toward guests or strangers.

   a hospitable smile.

3. favorably receptive or open (usually followed byto ).

   to be hospitable to new ideas; a climate hospitable to the raising of corn.

hospitable

/ ˈhɒspɪtəbəl, hɒˈspɪt- /

adjective

1. welcoming to guests or strangers

2. fond of entertaining

3. receptive

   hospitable to new ideas

Other Word Forms

• hospitableness noun
• hospitably adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of hospitable¹

First recorded in 1560–70; from Latin hospitā(re) “to receive as guest” (compare Latin hospitārī “to be a guest”; hospitium ) + -ble

Word History and Origins

Origin of hospitable¹

C16: from Medieval Latin hospitāre to receive as a guest, from Latin hospes guest, _host ¹

Example Sentences

By 2015, however, Huntington Park had become so hospitable to immigrants that a city councilmember appointed two of them living in the country illegally to serve on city commissions — a first in California.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Charlie had a sample of her womb taken, and the new test showed it was not "hospitable for babies", she says.

Read more on BBC

An earnest layer of “importance” clouded the audience’s emotional connection to the characters, even if the Taper was a more hospitable space for this dramatic musical than the Ahmanson.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Verrelli spent nine years in Arizona, an arid environment where many organisms struggle to survive, but that has now been altered and made more hospitable by human habitation.

Read more on Salon

But, experts have also found that many of these cooler, higher-elevation areas — that are more hospitable for Joshua trees — are also susceptible to wildfires because they tend to have denser vegetation.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• congenial 
• courteous 
• friendly 
• neighborly