hostilities

Noun

WordNet 3.0

fighting; acts of overt warfare“the outbreak of hostilities”Synonyms: belligerency

hostilities \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.

Syn: war, state of war, hot war. [WordNet 1.5]

We have showed ourselves generous adversaries . . . and have carried on even our hostilities with humanity.— Atterbury.[1913 Webster]

2.acts of overt warfare.

Syn: belligerency. [WordNet 1.5]

Hostility \Hos*til"i*ty\, n.; pl. Hostilities. [L. hostilitas: cf. F. hostilit['e].]

1.State of being hostile; public or private enemy; unfriendliness; animosity. [1913 Webster]

Hostility being thus suspended with France.— Hayward.[1913 Webster]

2.An act of an open enemy; a hostile deed; especially in the plural, acts of warfare; attacks of an enemy. See hostilities [1913 Webster]

He who proceeds to wanton hostility, often provokes an enemy where he might have a friend.— Crabb.

Syn: Animosity; enmity; opposition; violence; aggression; contention; warfare. [1913 Webster]