hostileadjective
uk/ˈhɒs.taɪl/us/ˈhɑː.stəl/hostile adjective (UNFRIENDLY)
C1 unfriendly and not liking something:
a hostile crowd
The president had a hostile reception in Ohio this morning.
More examples
- There has been a hostile reaction to the government's proposed tax increases.
- The security forces exercised great restraint by not responding to hostile attacks and threats.
- The company has managed to fight off a hostile takeover bid .
- Every day they had to run the gauntlet of hostile journalists on their way to school.
- He's famous for conducting hostile interviews with politicians.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Not being friendly
- (at) daggers drawn idiom
- abrasive
- antisocial
- asocial
- austere
- estrange
- estranged
- forbidding
- frostily
- give sb the time of day idiom
- icy
- mixer
- saturnine
- sour
- unsociable
- unwelcoming
- wintry
- with friends like you, who needs enemies? idiom
- withdraw
- withdrawal
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hostile adjective (DISAGREEING)
C1 not agreeing with something:
I'm not hostile to (= against) the idea of change as such.
hostile adjective (DIFFICULT)
C1 difficult or not suitable for living or growing:
hostile weather conditions
a hostile climate/environment
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Describing bad weather
- bleak
- break
- depression
- dreich
- fickle
- grey
- hard
- inclement
- murk
- murky
- overcast
- rough
- sock
- sock sth/sb in (with sb)
- sunless
- treacherous
- trough
- unseasonable
- unseasonal
- wuthering
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Fertile or infertile land
hostile adjective (ENEMY)
[ before noun ] connected with the enemy in a war:
hostile aircraft/forces
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Violent or aggressive
- aggressive
- aggro
- all hell breaks loose idiom
- atrocious
- atrocity
- confrontation
- desperate
- flex your muscles idiom
- forced
- forcible
- frenzied
- gay-basher
- road rage
- running with blood idiom
- sabre-rattling
- savage
- savagely
- savagery
- steep
- steeped in blood idiom
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
War
hostile adjective (COMPANIES)
relating to situations in which one company wants to buy another company whose owners do not want to sell it:
The company convinced investors to reject a hostile bid from Enterprise Oil Plc worth £1.5 billion.
a hostile merger
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Mergers & acquisitions
- absorb
- acquisitive
- amalgamation
- buy into sth
- buy sb out
- buyout
- hive
- hive sth off
- leverage
- merger
- monopolize
- monopoly
- oligopoly
- spin
- spin sth off
- subsidiary
- suitor
- syndicate
- take (sth) over
- takeover
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