pugnacious
inclined to quarrel or fight readily; quarrelsome; belligerent; combative.
Origin of pugnacious
1Other words for pugnacious
Opposites for pugnacious
Other words from pugnacious
- pug·na·cious·ly, adverb
- pug·nac·i·ty [puhg-nas-i-tee], /pʌgˈnæs ɪ ti/, pug·na·cious·ness, noun
- un·pug·na·cious, adjective
- un·pug·na·cious·ly, adverb
Words Nearby pugnacious
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pugnacious in a sentence
His tenacity in conducting rigorous experiments and his pugnacious public promotion of his findings established the germ theory of disease and encouraged new methods of hygiene.
This includes a pugnacious grill, menacing headlights and sleek LED taillights.
Rumsfeld was more complex and paradoxical than the public caricature of him as a pugnacious, inflexible villain would suggest.
Donald H. Rumsfeld, influential but controversial Bush defense secretary, dies at 88 | Bradley Graham | June 30, 2021 | Washington PostIt all ended badly last October when Glenn Greenwald, the pugnacious, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, quit the investigative news site he had co-founded six years earlier.
Glenn Greenwald may have quit the Intercept, but he can’t quit the feud | Paul Farhi | May 21, 2021 | Washington PostTo be sure, the pugnacious poet had his moments of assurance.
Two centuries after John Keats’s death, his famous odes are still sparking new discussions | Troy Jollimore | February 25, 2021 | Washington Post
He said that on the whole he got a better reception from Republicans, especially the pugnacious Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
Joe Sutter is 93 now, silver-haired and moving a tad more slowly than he would like, but still pugnacious and sharp of tongue.
He is a pugnacious writer and speaker himself, well used to picking intellectual fights.
And typically, the pugnacious New Jerseyan refuses to back away.
A Thinner Chris Christie Still Faces Big Political Challenges | Robert Shrum | May 10, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTAn early Zionist leader, prideful, pugnacious, Ussishkin headed the Jewish National Fund for nearly 20 years.
Yeshayahu Leibowitz Is Not The Name Of A Street | Gershom Gorenberg | April 18, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTSupported by Thurstane's pugnacious presence and hurried up by his vehement orders, they began to fire.
Overland | John William De ForestHe had never, in all his pugnacious and sanguinary life, looked upon anything so fascinating.
Overland | John William De ForestIt was not the headlong, reckless, pugnacious rage of the old Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian berserker.
Overland | John William De Forest"Get about your own business and leave us alone," advised the pugnacious chap.
Frank Merriwell's Pursuit | Burt L. StandishThe Scotch are certainly a most pugnacious people; their whole history proves it.
Lavengro | George Borrow
British Dictionary definitions for pugnacious
/ (pʌɡˈneɪʃəs) /
readily disposed to fight; belligerent
Origin of pugnacious
1Derived forms of pugnacious
- pugnaciously, adverb
- pugnacity (pʌɡˈnæsɪtɪ) or pugnaciousness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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