hostile
/ˈhɑstəl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.07 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Not friendly; appropriate to an enemy; showing the disposition of an enemy; showing ill will and malevolence or a desire to thwart and injure.
adj
adj
adj
Being or relating to a hostile takeover.
noun
An enemy.
Example Sentences
- "a hostile force"
- "hostile intentions"
- "a hostile country"
- "hostile to a sudden change"
- "Microsoft may go hostile in its bid for Yahoo! as soon as Friday, according to a published report."
- "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[…]"
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French hostile, from Latin hostīlis, from hostis (“enemy”). Displaced Old English fēondlīċ.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: hostile, hostīlis
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhɑstəl/
- British English: /ˈhɒstaɪl/