hostility
/hɑˈstɪlɪti/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.61 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A hostile action, especially a military action. See hostilities for specific plural definition.
Countable
Example Sentences
- "My resentment and anger towards you caused hostility and a division between us."
- "There is no hostilitie so excellent, as that which is absolutely Christian."
- "But with Goodison Park openly directing its full hostility towards Atkinson, Liverpool went ahead when Carroll turned in his first Premier League goal of the season after 70 minutes."
- "The polarization of wealth and the polarization of attitudes to diversity are not unrelated. A key reason for popular hostility to immigrants is that to many people, particularly within working-class communities, immigration has become a symbol of unacceptable change."
- "As the revivals died down in the 1740s, the revivalist camp made concessions to their opponents, admonished prorevivalists who continued with the hostilities, and generally sought to heal divisions."
Etymology
From Middle English hostilitie, hostilite, from Old French hostilité, from Latin hostīlitās. By surface analysis, hostile + -ity.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: hostilitie, hostilité, hostīlitās
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /hɑˈstɪlɪti/
- British English: /hɒsˈtɪlɪti/