HOSTILITIES • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Hostilities

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/hɑstˈɪlətiz/ Listen

noun

Hostility n. (pl. hostilities)

1.

State of being hostile; public or private enemy; unfriendliness; animosity. "Hostility being thus suspended with France."

2.

An act of an open enemy; a hostile deed; especially in the plural, acts of warfare; attacks of an enemy. See hostilities "He who proceeds to wanton hostility, often provokes an enemy where he might have a friend."

Synonyms: Animosity; enmity; opposition; violence; aggression; contention; warfare.

hostilities n. pl.

1.

A legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration, during which the international rules of war apply.

Synonyms: war, state of war, hot war. "We have showed ourselves generous adversaries... and have carried on even our hostilities with humanity."

2.

Acts of overt warfare.

Synonyms: belligerency.

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Etymology of 'Hostilities'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Hostilities" Quotes from Famous Books

... telegraph staff served in the campaign in South Africa. In times of peace many Royal Engineers are employed in the instrument room of the Bristol Post Office, and the duties of linesmen are mainly undertaken by men from that corps. On the outbreak of hostilities, these were at once withdrawn for active service, and then came the call for Volunteers for the Telegraph Battalion, when seven civilians attached to the local staff volunteered, and were selected. Great interest was taken by their ...

— The King's Post • R. C. Tombs

... have cried victory, the field of battle and some of the enemy's baggage remaining in my occupation. As a matter of fact, my moral sufferings during the engagement had rivalled those of Mr. Sebright; I was left incapable of fresh hostilities; I owned that the navy of old England was (for me) invincible as of yore; and giving up all thought of the doctor, inclined to salute her veteran flag, in the future, from a prudent distance. Such was my inclination, when I retired to rest; and my first experience the next morning ...

— The Wrecker • Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne

... from different points of the field of battle. The French had stood as if rooted to the spot—the allies, like rocks of granite. The former had fought like men, the latter like lions. Both parties, inspired with mutual respect, desisted from hostilities during ...

— Frederic Shoberl Narrative of the Most Remarkable Events Which Occurred In and Near Leipzig • Frederic Shoberl (1775-1853)

... any thing, are in real dread of invasion from us! Whatever be the reason, they don't declare war: some think they wait for the arrival of their Martinico fleet. You will ask why we should not attack that too? They tell one, that if we began hostilities in Europe, Spain would join the French. Some believe that the latter are not ready: certain it is, Mirepoix gave them no notice nor suspicion of our flippancy; and he is rather under a cloud—indeed this has much undeceived me in one ...

— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 • Horace Walpole

... his foster-brother, Bad Rufe—known as the terror of the Tollivers—or from some unknown reason, and in consequence there had been peace for a long time—the Falins fearing that Devil Judd would be led into the feud again, the Tollivers wary of starting hostilities without his aid. After the last trouble, Bad Rufe Tolliver had gone West and old Judd had moved his family as far away as possible. Hale looked around him: this, then, was the home of Devil Judd Tolliver; the little creature inside was his daughter and her name was June. ...

— The Trail of the Lonesome Pine • John Fox, Jr.

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