hostility

[ho-stil-i-tee]

noun

plural

hostilities 

1. a hostile state, condition, or attitude; enmity; antagonism; unfriendliness.

   Synonyms: hatred, ill will, animus, animosity
   Antonyms: friendliness

2. a hostile act.

3. opposition or resistance to an idea, plan, project, etc.

4. hostilities,

   1. acts of warfare.

   2. war.

   Synonyms: conflict, fighting
   Antonyms: peace

hostility

/ hɒˈstɪlɪtɪ /

noun

1. enmity or antagonism

2. an act expressing enmity or opposition

3. (plural) fighting; warfare

Other Word Forms

• nonhostility noun
• overhostility noun
• prehostility noun
• semihostility noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hostility¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English hostilite, from Latin hostīlitās, from hostīl(is) ( hostile ) + -itās -ity

Example Sentences

Transphobia doesn’t have to announce itself with slurs or overt hostility.

Read more on Salon

To prove vindictive prosecution, a defendant must show through objective evidence that the prosecutor acted with “genuine animus” and that the defendant would not have been prosecuted except for that hostility.

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“I saw open hostility to people of authority by community members in England,” Rabbi Dunner says.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

From American university campuses to European high schools, solidarity with the Palestinian cause—and hostility to Zionism—have become the political markers of a new generation.

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A judge has brought an end to a decade-long legal fight over the custody arrangements for the two youngsters, saying the "hostility" between their parents was "nothing short of tragic" for the children.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• aggression 
• animosity 
• antagonism 
• antipathy 
• bitterness 
• enmity 
• estrangement 
• hatred 
• ill will 
• opposition 
• rancor 
• resentment 
• war