hospitable

adjective hos·pi·ta·ble \ hä-ˈspi-tə-bəl , ˈhä-(ˌ)spi- \

Definition of hospitable

1 a :given to generous and cordial reception of guests

a kind, hospitable people

they are hospitable … : give a guest everything, and leave him free to do as he likes
—Bram Stoker

b :promising or suggesting generous and friendly welcome

hospitable faces

c :offering a pleasant or sustaining environment

grows in even the least hospitable climates

2 :readily receptive :open

hospitable to new ideas

—

hospitably

play \hä-ˈspi-tə-blē, ˈhä-(ˌ)spi-\ adverb

See hospitable defined for English-language learners

See hospitable defined for kids

Examples of hospitable in a Sentence

The people of that country are very hospitable.
It's a hearty plant that grows in even the least hospitable climates.
elderly people moving to Florida for its hospitable climate

Recent Examples of hospitable from the Web

To put it more directly, Republican veterans ran for seats that were five points more hospitable than their non-veteran counterparts.

— jeremy m. teigen, Washington Post, "Do military veterans really win more elections? Only in ‘purple’ districts.," 20 July 2017
Most of the place is strenuously hospitable to the customer.

— jon wertheim, SI.com, "Wimbledon is truly a treasure, but its classic strawberries and cream snack is not," 13 July 2017
The Martian surface may be even less hospitable to life than scientists had thought.

— mike wall space.com senior writer, Fox News, "Mars soil may be toxic to microbes," 7 July 2017
Kitchener: The tech industry—and Uber in particular—has been in the news lately for having a culture that’s not hospitable to women.

— caroline kitchener, The Atlantic, "How Princeton Is Trying to Get More Women to Be Student Leaders," 6 July 2017
DENVER – Coors Field is known for its hospitable treatment of hitters.

— zach buchanan, Cincinnati.com, "In hitter’s paradise, big hit never comes for Reds," 6 July 2017
This once-in-a-lifetime cruise, beginning in Buenos Aires and ending in Valparaiso, Chile, provided an amazing assortment of adventures with penguins, glaciers and fiords, mixed in with remote towns and hospitable people.

— doug hansen, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Cruising around Cape Horn is South American adventure," 29 June 2017
The lawsuit suggests that creating a hospitable home for red-winged blackbirds made the hospital the creatures' de facto owner, and thus liable for their transgressions under the state's Animal Control Act.

— john keilman, chicagotribune.com, "Hospital to blame for red-winged blackbird attack? Suit says yes," 22 June 2017
Speculative fiction has long been a space unusually hospitable to writers of color, from the Afrofuturist epics of Samuel Delany and Octavia Butler to the award-winning short stories of Ted Chiang.

— hua hsu, The New Yorker, "Eugene Lim’s Uncanny Sense of What It’s Like to Be Alive Right Now," 7 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hospitable.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of hospitable

circa 1570

hospitable Synonyms

Synonyms

affable, cordial, genial, gracious, sociable

Antonyms

inhospitable, ungenial, ungracious, unsociable

Related Words

agreeable, amiable, benign, benignant, congenial, convivial, friendly, kind, kindly, neighborly; accommodating, obliging; considerate, courteous, polite, thoughtful; cosmopolitan, sophisticated, urbane; approachable, attentive, outgoing

Near Antonyms

boorish, churlish; abrupt, blunt, brusque (also brusk), curt, gruff, sharp, snippy; antisocial, disagreeable, discourteous, ill-mannered, impolite, rude, sullen, surly, uncivil, unfriendly, unkind, unmannerly; crabbed, crabby, cross, crusty, grumpy

HOSPITABLE Defined for English Language Learners

hospitable

adjective

Definition of hospitable for English Language Learners

: generous and friendly to guests or visitors
: having an environment where plants, animals, or people can live or grow easily
: ready or willing to accept or consider something