Library / English Dictionary

HOSTILITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Violent action that is hostile and usually unprovoked

Synonyms:

aggression; hostility

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("hostility" is a kind of...):

action (something done (usually as opposed to something said))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hostility"):

meat grinder (any action resulting in injury or destruction)

force; violence (an act of aggression (as one against a person who resists))

pillage; pillaging; plundering (the act of stealing valuable things from a place)

Derivation:

hostile (unsolicited and resisted by the management of the target company (used of attempts to buy or take control of a business))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A hostile (very unfriendly) disposition

Example:

he could not conceal his hostility

Synonyms:

hostility; ill will

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("hostility" is a kind of...):

unfriendliness (an unfriendly disposition)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hostility"):

virulence; virulency (extreme hostility)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The feeling of a hostile person

Example:

he could no longer contain his hostility

Synonyms:

enmity; hostility; ill will

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("hostility" is a kind of...):

hate; hatred (the emotion of intense dislike; a feeling of dislike so strong that it demands action)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hostility"):

animosity; animus; bad blood (a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility)

class feeling (feelings of envy and resentment of one social or economic class for toward another)

antagonism (an actively expressed feeling of dislike and hostility)

aggression; aggressiveness (a feeling of hostility that arouses thoughts of attack)

belligerence; belligerency (hostile or warlike attitude or nature)

bitterness; gall; rancor; rancour; resentment (a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will)

Derivation:

hostile (characterized by enmity or ill will)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A state of deep-seated ill-will

Synonyms:

antagonism; enmity; hostility

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("hostility" is a kind of...):

state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hostility"):

latent hostility; tension (feelings of hostility that are not manifest)

state of war; war (a legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply)

cold war (a state of political hostility between countries using means short of armed warfare)

suspicion (the state of being suspected)

Instance hyponyms:

Cold War (a state of political hostility that existed from 1945 until 1990 between countries led by the Soviet Union and countries led by the United States)

Credits

 Context examples: 

White Fang pricked his ears and investigated it suspiciously, managing to look at the same time both at the meat and the god, alert for any overt act, his body tense and ready to spring away at the first sign of hostility.

(White Fang, by Jack London)