1
as in negative
marked by opposition or ill will
the suggestions for change were given a hostile reception by some of the longtime employees
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in unfavorable
opposed to one's interests
the company's president vows to fight the hostile takeover by the giant corporation
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in enemy
one that is hostile toward another
reports of hostiles in the area kept the settlers on edge
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hostile
Landon Mion , Bill Melugin, FOXNews.com, 15 Oct. 2025
Yes, the re-escalation of hostile rhetoric Friday was the proximate excuse for the market's uncommonly calm ascent to crack.
—Michael Santoli, CNBC, 14 Oct. 2025
Robert S. Gable, IEEE Spectrum, 20 July 2017
See All Example Sentences for hostile
Adjective
As Border Patrol arrested the subjects and attempted to secure the scene a crowd began to form and eventually turned hostile and eventually crowd control measures were used.
—Landon Mion , Bill Melugin, FOXNews.com, 15 Oct. 2025
Yes, the re-escalation of hostile rhetoric Friday was the proximate excuse for the market's uncommonly calm ascent to crack.
—Michael Santoli, CNBC, 14 Oct. 2025
Noun
And, unfortunately, the monitoring idea was born into a world hostile to its very premise.
—Robert S. Gable, IEEE Spectrum, 20 July 2017
See All Example Sentences for hostile
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hostile
Adjective
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Police said that the driver sustained minor injuries and tested negative for any alcohol.—
Charlotte Phillipp,
PEOPLE,
19 Oct. 2025
-
According to Sports Talk Media Network on X, Swinney revealed that X-rays for Sadler were negative.—
Matthew Couden,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Dougherty said the previous school board decided not to pursue a bond after unfavorable polling showed voters would not be in favor of a facilities bond in the 2024 election.—
Julie Gallant,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
14 Oct. 2025
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The iPhone 17′s margin could also be squeezed by an unfavorable product mix and a higher bill of materials cost.—
Lisa Kailai Han,
CNBC,
13 Oct. 2025
Noun
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What to Do About Leaves Fallen leaves are a friend or an enemy to the home lawn, depending on how they are managed.—
Megan Hughes,
Better Homes & Gardens,
19 Oct. 2025
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Only three of his 157 passes this year have wound up in enemy hands, which is not very promising for a 49ers defense that’s gone an NFL-record 13 straight games without an interception.—
Cam Inman,
Mercury News,
19 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Kalshi’s proclamations about geolocation expenses having a serious adverse effect on its budget are disputed by people and companies from the gambling establishment.—
Dan Bernstein,
Sportico.com,
16 Oct. 2025
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For the descendants of fired, demoted, and aspiring civil servants, the adverse economic effects persisted for generations.—
Time,
Time,
14 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Back in August, OpenAI published an update to ChatGPT with stronger controls on the bot’s responses to certain conversational topics amid mounting concern that some users are building harmful emotional attachments to chatbots.—
Jack Guy,
CNN Money,
15 Oct. 2025
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This proposal, Pudelski believes, could be the most harmful for schools and educators.—
Sequoia Carrillo,
NPR,
15 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Not for nothing did the sports division fork over a bundle for the rights to license the Roundball Rock theme—which for years effectively served as the soundtrack to Jordan crushing the dreams of his opponents—from its shooting guard-size composer, John Tesh.—
Anthony Crupi,
Sportico.com,
21 Oct. 2025
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On Tuesday, Sanae Takaichi won a vote of 237-149 in the lower house of parliament over her closest opponent, Yoshihiko Noda.—
Meredith Kile,
PEOPLE,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
There wasn't any antagonistic issue or anything like that.—
Matt Audilet,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Oct. 2025
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There wasn’t any antagonistic issue or anything like that.—
Nick Harris,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Children’s Health Defense, the organization Kennedy built into one of the fiercest foes of childhood vaccines, took interest in the Idaho bill early on.—
Audrey Dutton,
ProPublica,
20 Oct. 2025
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That would of course include a victory in the season finale against cross-town foe Southern California.—
Eddie Timanus,
USA Today,
20 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hostile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hostile. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.
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