hostility

English

Etymology

From Middle English hostilitie, hostilite, from Old French hostilité, from Latin hostīlitās.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hɒˈstɪlɪti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /hɑˈstɪlɪti/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlɪti

Noun

hostility (countable and uncountable, plural hostilities)

1. (uncountable) The state of being hostile.

   My resentment and anger towards you caused hostility and a division between us.

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     There is no hostilitie so excellent, as that which is absolutely Christian.

   • 2011 October 1, Phil McNulty, “Everton 0-2 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport:

     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.

   • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, “London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 September 2013:

     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.

2. (countable) A hostile action, especially a military action. See hostilities for specific plural definition.

Synonyms

• (state of being hostile): antagonism, opposition, enmity, animosity, antipathy, hatred, unfriendliness
• (military action): war, fighting, combat

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "state of being hostile"): amity, friendliness
• (antonym(s) of "military action"): peace

Derived terms

• horizontal hostility

Related terms

• hostile

Translations

state of being hostile

• Afrikaans: vyandigheid
• Albanian: armiqësi (sq) f
• Arabic: عَدَاوَة f (ʕadāwa)
• Armenian: թշնամություն (hy) (tʻšnamutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: düşmənçilik, ədavət
• Belarusian: варо́жасць f (varóžascʹ), варажне́ча f (varažnjéča), непрыя́знасць f (njepryjáznascʹ)
• Bengali: বিবাদ (bn) (bibad), শত্রুতা (bn) (śotruta)
• Bulgarian: вражде́бност (bg) f (vraždébnost), вражда́ (bg) f (vraždá), неприя́зън (bg) f (neprijázǎn)
• Catalan: hostilitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 敵意／敌意 (zh) (díyì)

• Czech: nepřátelství (cs) n
• Danish: fjendtlighed c
• Dutch: hostiliteit (nl) f, vijandigheid (nl) f, vijandschap (nl) f
• Esperanto: malamikeco
• Estonian: vaenulikkus
• Finnish: vihamielisyys (fi)
• French: hostilité (fr) f
• Georgian: მტრობა (mṭroba)
• German: Feindseligkeit (de) f, Feindschaft (de) f
• Greek: εχθρότητα (el) f (echthrótita), εχθρικότητα (el) f (echthrikótita)

  Ancient: ἔχθρα f (ékhthra)

• Hebrew: אֵיבָה (he) f (eyvá)
• Hindi: दुश्मनी (hi) f (duśmanī), अदावत (hi) f (adāvat), वैर (hi) m (vair), शत्रुता (hi) f (śatrutā)
• Hungarian: viszály (hu), ellenségeskedés (hu)
• Icelandic: fjandskapur m, óvild f, óvinátta f
• Italian: ostilità (it) f
• Japanese: 敵対 (ja) (てきたい, tekitai), 敵意 (ja) (てきい, tekii)
• Kazakh: ғадауат (ğadauat), дұшпандық (dūşpandyq), қастық (qastyq)
• Korean: 적의 (ko) (jeogui), 적대 (ko) (jeokdae)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: dijminatî (ku), neyarî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: душмандык (ky) (duşmandık), кастык (kastık)
• Latvian: ienaids (lv) m
• Lithuanian: priešiškumas m
• Macedonian: непријателство n (neprijatelstvo)
• Malay: permusuhan (ms)​
• Maori: whakariri
• Middle English: yvel wille
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дайсагнал (mn) (dajsagnal)

  Mongolian: ᠳᠠᠶᠢᠰᠤᠩᠨᠠᠯ (dayisuŋnal)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fiendtlighet m or f

• Occitan: ostilitat (oc) f
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: вражьда f (vražĭda)

• Old English: fēondlīcnes f
• Ottoman Turkish: عداوه (adâve), عداوت (adâvet), دشمنلك (düşmenlik), خصومت (husûmet)
• Pashto: دښمني (ps) f (dox̌maní), عداوت (ps) m (adāwát)
• Persian: دشمنی (fa) (došmani), عداوت (fa) ('adâvat), خصومت (fa) (xosumat)
• Polish: wrogość (pl) f, nieprzyjaźń f
• Portuguese: hostilidade (pt) f
• Romanian: ostilitate (ro) f, dușmănie (ro) f
• Russian: вражде́бность (ru) f (vraždébnostʹ), вражда́ (ru) f (vraždá), неприя́тие (ru) n (neprijátije), неприя́знь (ru) f (neprijáznʹ)
• Sanskrit: इरस् (sa) n (iras), द्वेषस् (sa) n (dveṣas)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: непријатѐљство n

  Roman: neprijatèljstvo (sh) n

• Slovak: nepriateľstvo n
• Slovene: sovrȃštvo (sl) n
• Spanish: hostilidad (es) f
• Swahili: uadui
• Swedish: fientlighet (sv)
• Tajik: душманӣ (tg) (dušmanī), адоват (adovat), хусумат (xusumat)
• Tatar: дошманлык (tt) (doşmanlıq)
• Tocharian B: sanuññe
• Turkish: düşmanlık (tr), yağılık (tr), husumet (tr), hasımlık (tr), adavet (tr) (archaic)
• Turkmen: duşmançylyk
• Ukrainian: воро́жість f (voróžistʹ), ворожне́ча f (vorožnéča), непри́язнь f (neprýjaznʹ), ворожда́ f (voroždá) (poetic)
• Urdu: دشمنی f (duśmanī), عداوت f ('adāvat)
• Uyghur: دۈشمەنلىك (düshmenlik)
• Uzbek: dushmanlik (uz), adovat (uz)

hostile action, especially a military action

• Afrikaans: vyandigheid
• Bengali: বিবাদ (bn) (bibad)
• Catalan: hostilitat (ca) f
• Dutch: vijandigheid (nl) f,vijandelijkheid (nl) f
• Finnish: vihamielinen teko; sotatoimi (fi)
• Greek: εχθροπραξία (el) f (echthropraxía)
• Japanese: 事変 (ja) (じへん, jihen)
• Malay: pertempuran (ms)​
• Russian: вражде́бный акт m (vraždébnyj akt)
• Spanish: hostilidad (es) f
• Turkish: saldırgan hareket

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Latin: ^{(please verify)} hostilitas
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} ostilitate (ro) f