HOSTILITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does hostility mean? 

• HOSTILITY (noun)
  The noun HOSTILITY has 4 senses:

1. a hostile (very unfriendly) disposition

2. a state of deep-seated ill-will

3. the feeling of a hostile person

4. violent action that is hostile and usually unprovoked

  Familiarity information: HOSTILITY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HOSTILITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A hostile (very unfriendly) disposition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

hostility; ill will

Context example:

he could not conceal his hostility

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 2

Meaning:

A state of deep-seated ill-will

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

antagonism; enmity; hostility

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)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The feeling of a hostile person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

enmity; hostility; ill will

Context example:

he could no longer contain his hostility

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:

Violent action that is hostile and usually unprovoked

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

aggression; hostility

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))

 Context examples 

But, beyond warning coughs from either side, there were no signs of hostility.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Without one overt act of hostility, one upbraiding word, he contrived to impress me momently with the conviction that I was put beyond the pale of his favour.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“You have come to see Lord Nelson. He bid me say that he would be with you in an instant. You have doubtless heard that hostilities are about to reopen?”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mr. Murdstone seemed afraid of a renewal of hostilities, and interposing began: Miss Trotwood!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

They sensed between themselves and him a difference of kind—cause sufficient in itself for hostility.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It was plain, therefore, that the attack would be developed from the north and that on the other three sides we were only to be annoyed by a show of hostilities.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

To be clear, you may have no problem with your romantic partner but have a lot of hostility toward a business partner, or it may be the reverse—your romantic partner may be the problem but not a business collaborator.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

" Once more, argumentative hostility woke within me. I could not accept such an overwhelming idea as he suggested; so, with an attempt to argue of which I was even at the moment ashamed, I said:—She may have been placed here since last night.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Between him and all domestic animals there must be no hostilities.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I thought it my duty to hint at the discomfort my aunt would sustain, from living in a continual state of guerilla warfare with Mrs. Crupp; but she disposed of that objection summarily by declaring that, on the first demonstration of hostilities, she was prepared to astonish Mrs. Crupp for the whole remainder of her natural life.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)