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)

1. 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

2. Aggressive; antagonistic.
3. Unwilling.
4. (not comparable) Being or relating to 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

• go hostile
• hostile architecture
• hostile environment
• hostile possession
• hostile vehicle
• hostile witness
• user-hostile

 

Related terms

• hostility
• hostilely
• host
• See also Thesaurus:combative

Translations

belonging or appropriate to an enemy

Albanian: armiqësor (sq) Arabic: مُعَادِي m (muʕādī) Belarusian: варо́жы (varóžy), во́ражы (vóražy) Bulgarian: вра́жески (bg) (vrážeski), неприя́телски (bg) (neprijátelski), вражде́бен (bg) (vraždében) Catalan: hostil Chinese: Mandarin: 敵對的 / 敌对的 (díduì de), 懷敵意的 / 怀敌意的 (huái díyì de) Czech: nepřátelský (cs) m Dutch: vijandig (nl) Esperanto: malamika Finnish: vihamielinen (fi) French: hostile (fr) German: feindlich (de), feindselig (de) Greek: εχθρικός (el) m (echthrikós), (Epic) δάϊος (dáïos) Ancient: πολέμιος (polémios) Hebrew: עוֹיֵן (he) m ('oyén) Hungarian: ellenséges (hu) Japanese: 敵の (ja) (かたきの, kataki no,てきの, teki no), 敵対的な (ja) (てきたいてきな, tekitaiteki na) Kazakh: ғадауатты (ğadauatty) Korean: 적대적인 (jeokdaejeog-in) Latin: hostilis (la), alienus (la) Macedonian: непријателски (neprijatelski) Norwegian: Bokmål: fiendtlig Nynorsk: fiendtleg Occitan: ostil (oc) Old English: fēondlīċ Plautdietsch: fientlich Polish: wrogi (pl) m Portuguese: hostil (pt) Quechua: awqa (qu) Romanian: ostil (ro) m or n Russian: вражде́бный (ru) (vraždébnyj), вра́жеский (ru) (vrážeskij) (belonging to an enemy), неприя́тельский (ru) (neprijátelʹskij) Scottish Gaelic: nàimhdeach, nàimhdeil, eucairdeach Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: непријатѐљскӣ Roman: neprijatèljskī (sh) Slovak: nepriateľský Slovene: sovražen Spanish: hostil (es) Swedish: fientlig (sv) Ukrainian: воро́жий (voróžyj)

antagonistic

Belarusian: варо́жы (varóžy) Bulgarian: вражде́бен (bg) (vraždében) Esperanto: malamika, malamikema German: gegnerisch (de), unversöhnlich (de), antagonistisch (de), giftig (de) (coll.) Gothic: 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽𐌴𐌹𐌸𐍃 (andaneiþs) Greek: εχθρικός (el) (echthrikós) Ancient: ἐχθρός (ekhthrós), δυσμενής (dusmenḗs), ἀνάρσιος (anársios) Japanese: 敵対的 (ja) (てきたいてき, tekitaiteki) Kazakh: ғадауатты (ğadauatty) Latin: infestus Maori: taraweti Old English: fēondlīċ Plautdietsch: fientlich Russian: вражде́бный (ru) (vraždébnyj) Tocharian B: erkatte Ukrainian: воро́жий (voróžyj)

Noun

hostile (plural hostiles)

1. (chiefly in the plural) An enemy.
   • 2021 February 3, Drachinifel, 10:55 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - Santa Cruz (IJN 2 : 2 USN)‎, archived from the original on 4 December 2022:

     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 […]

Translations

enemy — see enemy

Anagrams

• Elohist, sholtie, holiest, eoliths, Sithole

French

Etymology

Inherited 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)

1. hostile
2. 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

1. 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)