latent hostility
- noun
:
hostilidad latente
- As the director of one textbook commission has put it, the emphasis on negotiating difficult questions "explodes a historical presentation based on national history, which asserts the full homogeneity of each society and differentiates itself from the outside with latent hostility."
Examples
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His smile masked a latent hostility, as he silently judged her every decision.
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l... You probably thought that was some form of latent hostility.
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Mr. Landor, do you harbor a latent hostility toward this Academy?
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It struck me then, full force, that what I disliked in my own country was the lack of greeting between people, the indifference, even latent hostility.
Fiction book (2002) -
During the meeting, her remarks revealed a latent hostility towards the new policy that no one had anticipated.
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Despite appearing friendly, there was a latent hostility among the team members that simmered just below the surface.
Synonyms
147
4.7
Unfriendly or angry actions and feelings toward someone
1
6.8
A way of showing anger indirectly, for example by not doing promised tasks
How Hostile
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'hostility that exists but is not openly shown' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'latent' (existing but not apparent) with 'hostility' (an antagonistic attitude). This adjective+noun composition follows normal compositional semantics and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Latent hostility creates the picture of a small fire under cold ashes: latent means 'hidden' and hostility is like heat or anger lying below the surface that can suddenly show. So it means 'anger or dislike that exists but is not shown'.