host
UK/həʊst//hoʊst/
host noun: one which receives or entertains a guest, socially, commercially, or officially.
Noun (1)
host (plural hosts)
- One which receives or entertains a guest, socially, commercially, or officially.
- A good host is always considerate of the guest’s needs.
- Time is like a fashionable host, / That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- One that provides a facility for an event.
- A person or organization responsible for running an event.
- Our company is host of the annual conference this year.
- A moderator or master of ceremonies for a performance.
- The host was terrible, but the acts themselves were good.
- Synonyms:
- presenter
- The primary member of a system, typically the member who fronts most often.
- Any computer attached to a network.
- A cell or organism which harbors another organism or biological entity, usually a parasite.
- Viruses depend on the host that they infect in order to be able to reproduce.
- A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193
- An organism bearing certain genetic material, with respect to its cells.
- The so-called junk DNA is known, so far, to provide no apparent benefit to its host.
- A paid male companion offering conversation and in some cases sex, as in certain types of bar in Japan.
Verb
host (third-person singular simple present hosts, present participle hosting, simple past and past participle hosted)
- To perform the role of a host.
- Our company will host the annual conference this year.
- I was terrible at hosting that show.
- To lodge at an inn.
- Where you shall host.c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- To run software made available to a remote user or process.
- Kremvax hosts a variety of services.
- CMU/TEK TCP/IP software uses an excessive amount of cpu resources for terminal support both outbound, when accessing another system, and inbound, when the local system is hosting a session.1987 May 7, Selden E. Ball, Jr., “Re: Ethernet Terminal Concentrators”, in comp.protocols.tcp-ip (Usenet)
Noun (2)
host (plural hosts)
- A multitude of people arrayed as an army; used also in religious senses, as: Heavenly host (of angels)
- Why, Plugson, even thy own host is all in mutiny: Cotton is conquered; but the ‘bare backs’ — are worse covered than ever!1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. X, Plugson of Undershot”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern...
- All about the hosts of Mordor raged.1955 October 20, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “chapter 4, The Field of Cormallen”, in The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings […], New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books...
- A large number of items; a large inventory.
- The dealer stocks a host of parts for my Model A.
- There are a host of reasons for this decision.
Noun (3)
host (plural hosts)
- The consecrated bread of the Eucharist.
- Do you pray to the Holy Ghost when you suck your host? / Do you read who's dead in the Irish Post?1978, John Lydon, “Religion II”, performed by Public Image Ltd.
- Synonyms:
- Body of Christ
host meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
host in Hindi
- person who receives or entertains a guest
- आतिथेय ātithey, आतिथेयी ātitheyī, अतिथिपति atithipti
- person or organisation responsible for running an event
- अतिथिपति atithipti, संचालक sañcālak
- moderator
- संचारक sañcārak, सभापति sabhāpti, मध्यस्थ madhyasth
- computing: computer attached to a network
- मध्यस्थ madhyasth
host in Tamil
- perform the role of a host
- நடத்து naṭattu
host in Marathi
- computing: computer attached to a network
- होस्ट hosṭa
host in Urdu
- person who receives or entertains a guest
- میزْبان mezbān
- person or organisation responsible for running an event
- میزْبان mezbān
More languagesFewer languages
- host in Bengali
- মেজবান mejban
- host in Telugu
- అతిధేయుడు, హోస్ట్, అతిథేయుడు
- host in Malayalam
- ആതിഥേയൻ, സൈന്യം, വ്യൂഹം
- host in Kannada
- ಆತಿಥೇಯ, ಅತಿಥಿಗಳನ್ನು ಸತ್ಕರಿಸುವವನು, ಆಶ್ರಯದಾತ, ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ
- host in Punjabi
- میزبان mezbān, ਮੇਜ਼ਬਾਨ mezbān
- host in Gujarati
- યજમાન
- host in Odia
- ଆତିଥେଯ଼, ହୋଷ୍ଟ, ଆତିଥ୍ଯ଼ଦାତା
- host in Sanskrit
- अतिथिपति átithipati
- host in Nepali
- होस्ट, मेजबान
- host in Pashto
- کوربه korba
- host in Tagalog
- sasandigan, ostiya
- host in Arabic
- مُضِيف muḍīf, آدِب ʔādib, مُسْتَضِيف mustaḍīf, جُنْد jund
- host in Malay
- tuan rumah, pengacara, perumah
- host in Indonesian
- tuan rumah, pembawa acara, hos, pejamu
- host in Thai
- เจ้าบ้าน jâao-bâan, เจ้าภาพ jâo-pâap
- host in Vietnamese
- chủ nhà, người chủ trì, người tổ chức, chủ tế
- host in Myanmar
- အိမ်ရှင် imhrang
Examples of host in a sentence
- I’ll be hosting tonight. I hope I’m not terrible.
- I am quite impressed with the December 10th issue in which it hosted the article by Nancy Langer, "Different Abilities, the Same Queer Pleasures."1984 February 4, Suzan Bedrosian, “Sex Lives”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 28, page 4:
- Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola.2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193:
- By Lady Day the Scriptorium was ready to receive the "copying and burrowing" of the host of readers who had been directed by Furnivall for the past twenty years.1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 173:
- the invading host that had sailed from Hellas in more than one thousand ships was of an unprecedented size.2001, Carlos Parada, Hesione 2, Greek Mythology Link:
Synonyms of host
Forms of host
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hosts |
| alternative form (obsolete) | hoast |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hosts |
| present participle | hosting |
| past participle | hosted |
| past | hosted |
Origin of host
From Middle English hoste, from Old French oste (French: hôte), from Latin hospitem, accusative of hospes (“a host, also a sojourner, visitor, guest; hence, a foreigner, a stranger”), from *hostipotis, an old compound of hostis and the root of potis, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstipotis (“master of guests”), from *gʰóstis (“stranger, guest, enemy”) and *pótis (“owner, master, host, husband”). Used in English since 13th century.
From Middle English oost, borrowed from Old French ost, oste, hoste, from Latin hostis (“foreign enemy”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis (as opposed to inimicus (“personal enemy”)). Doublet of guest.
From Middle English host, oist, ost, from Old French hoiste, from Latin hostia (“sacrificial victim”). Doublet of hostie.
Words formed from host
- host desecration
- air host
- bulletproof host
- co-host
- definitive host
- dehost
- DMZ host
- graft-versus-host
- graft-versus-host disease
- host cell
- host city
- host country
- hostel
- hoster
- hostess
- host family
- hostless
- hostmask
- hostmaster
- hostname
- host plant
- host response
- hostress
- host rock
- host selling
- hostship
- host species
- host with the most
- interhost
- intrahost
- jump host
- mine host
- multihost
- mycohost
- no-host
- no host bar
- nonhost
- opinion host
- play host to
- reckon without one's host
- webhost
- web host
- wraparound host
- zombie host
- cohost
- hostable
- hostee
- rehost
- self-host
- heavenly host
- Lord of Hosts
Phrases with host
- mein host
- host cells
- host rocks
- host cities
- host plants
- no host bars
- host families
- plays host to
- host countries
- host responses
- played host to
- playing host to
3 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with host
12 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about host
- What does host mean?
- Host means one which receives or entertains a guest, socially, commercially, or officially.
- What is host in Hindi?
- Host in Hindi is आतिथेय (ātithey), आतिथेयी (ātitheyī), अतिथिपति (atithipti). See Host meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use host in a sentence?
- I’ll be hosting tonight. I hope I’m not terrible.
- What part of speech is host?
- Host can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce host?
- Host is pronounced /həʊst/ (UK).
- What is the plural of host?
- The plural of host is hosts.
Words near host in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: host (page history and authors); host (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); host (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); host (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); میزبان (Punjabi) (page history and authors); host (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); host (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); अतिथिपति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); host (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-host.wav.
Cite this entry: “host.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/host. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.