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 (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 (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)‎^[1], 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

an enemy

• Albanian: armiqësor (sq)
• Bulgarian: враг (bg) m (vrag)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 敵人／敌人 (zh) (dírén)

• German: Gegner (de) m, Feind (de) m
• Greek: εχθρός (el) m (echthrós)
• Japanese: 敵 (ja) (てき, teki)
• Old Turkic: 𐰖𐰍𐰃 (yaɣï)

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)