hostility
Americannoun
-
hostilities
plural
noun
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enmity or antagonism
-
an act expressing enmity or opposition
-
(plural) fighting; warfare
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hostility
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English hostilite, from Latin hostīlitās, from hostīl(is) ( see hostile) + -itās -ity
Explanation
Hostility is the state of ill will and bad feeling. If a teacher embarrasses you in front of the whole class, you will probably regard him or her with hostility for the remainder of the school year. Hostility can be used to describe aggressive relations between two countries as well as between people. The issue of territorial borders can often cause hostility between neighboring countries. If actual fighting breaks out, use the word hostilities to refer to the violent actions between them. The ordinary citizens of the countries involved will look forward to the end of hostilities when the two governments are able to work together for peace.
Vocabulary lists containing hostility
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 16–19
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, "A Date That Will Live In Infamy" (1941)
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Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Their cases differ in important respects, but together they raise questions about the relationship between presidential hostility and the exercise of state power.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
Manchester City will face an atmosphere of toxicity and hostility they have never experienced before when they walk out to face Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
"There is a sense of fatalism, hostility toward one another, and serious tension in society," he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 3, 2026
In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that a commission enforcing a state antidiscrimination law had violated Phillips’s religious rights by displaying hostility toward his beliefs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
I sympathize with his confusion, but I feel nothing toward his hostility.
From "Every Day" by David Levithan
The renewed hostilities come as Saudi Arabia has been battling an economic slowdown and rolling back some of its flashier investments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
On the downside, spending also got a boost from an increase in gas prices after the U.S. and Iran resumed hostilities.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
More than 1 million land mines are estimated to be in the DMZ, the no-man’s-land created as part of the armistice halting active hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Iran said it had raised reopening the strait and ending hostilities during negotiations on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this past week.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
On the other hand, Europeans viewed treaties as legal documents that focused on ending hostilities and as businesslike transactions where “the winner” got something from “the loser.”
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
