HOSTILITIES • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • 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

... over the country and hostilities began, the North counted the Negro on the outside of the issue. The Federal Government planted itself upon the policy of the "defence of the free States,"—pursued a defensive rather than an offensive ...

— History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2 (of 2) - Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens • George Washington Williams

... fraternizing on the part of the soldiers of contending armies. Sometimes the soldiers of the North would be on one side of a river when the Southern troops were on the other side. With the evening came suspension of hostilities, and under cover of darkness men of one army would cross over to the enemy's camp to smoke and talk with men who during the day had sought their destruction. That may have seemed very fine, from a certain point of view, but is regrettable ...

— Standards of Life and Service • T. H. Howard

... commercial privileges in all those regions, and was further alarmed by the ambitious colonial projects of Napoleon. In May, 1803, therefore, Great Britain declared war. The immediate pretext for the resumption of hostilities was Napoleon's positive refusal to cease interfering in Italy, ...

— A Political and Social History of Modern Europe V.1. • Carlton J. H. Hayes

... with several orders upon his coat. "But enough of my private sorrow!" She dashed invisible tears from her eyes. "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 • Arthur Conan Doyle

... the marriage of Louis XIV. with the Spanish Infanta, Maria Theresa; and, though the treaty had not been concluded, preliminaries had been so far arranged that, since May 1659, there had been a cessation of hostilities. Thus relieved already from the trouble of carrying on military operations in Flanders, the Restored Rumpers took steps to get themselves included in the Treaty in progress between the two Kings, or, if they should fail in that, to secure peace with ...

— The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660 • David Masson

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