hostilize

H4O1S1T1I1L1I1Z10E1

verb

To make hostile; to cause to become an enemy.

“March 4, 1815, Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis C. Grey, Esq. if they go on checking, irritating, injuring and hostilizing us, they will force on us the motto “Carthago delenda est”.”

Scrabble 21

Meanings

verbhostilize (third-person singular simple present hostilizes, present participle hostilizing, simple past and past participle hostilized)

present singular third person hostilizes · participle present hostilizing · participle past hostilized · past hostilized · alternative hostilise

  1. archaicTo make hostile; to cause to become an enemy.

    March 4, 1815, Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis C. Grey, Esq. if they go on checking, irritating, injuring and hostilizing us, they will force on us the motto “Carthago delenda est”.

    2 more examples

    1794, Anna Seward, Letters of Anna Seward Letter 96, to Reverend T. S. Whalley. When England, Spain, Holland, and Russia united with the powers already hostilized against an impious nation, that had reduced robbery, murder, and profaneness to a cool and practical system, I thought there was the fairest prospect of their success .

    Protestants, who, considering the present Government, Catholic and clerical, think themselves obliged to hostilize it and make propaganda against it.

    1903, United States Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, page 298

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

hostilize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hostilize

MLA

“hostilize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hostilize. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hostilize,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hostilize.

Source: hostilize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.