truculent
Americanadjective
-
aggressively hostile; belligerent.
-
brutally harsh; vitriolic; scathing.
Their truculent criticism of my latest work was not entirely fair.
-
savagely brutal; barbarous; cruel.
- Antonyms:
- gentle, kindhearted, humane
adjective
-
defiantly aggressive, sullen, or obstreperous
-
archaic savage, fierce, or harsh
Synonym Usage
See fierce.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of truculent
First recorded in 1530–40; from Latin truculentus, equivalent to truc-, stem of trux “savage, pitiless” + -ulentus adjective suffix; see -ulent
Explanation
If you are quick to argue, always looking for a fight, and hard to please, you are truculent. You can also write a truculent essay, and fans upset by a loss can become truculent. This word has no connection to truck, but the similar sound is still a good way to remember it: truculent folks are like monster trucks, ready to run over anything that gets in their way. To be truculent is to be defiant, aggressive, and quarrelsome. A truculent student will get in trouble with teachers, and a truculent teacher might get fired. In a violent sport like football, it helps to be truculent, but it's usually not a great quality.
Vocabulary lists containing truculent
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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Metaphors from Top AP English Exam Novels
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Mad Infinitum: Synonyms for "Angry"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Truculent Kuomintang fundamentalists seized the initiative in some of the subcommittees set up to study the draft constitution.
From Time Magazine Archive
But he had gotten some help from Planemaker Glenn Martin and "a great deal of information" from Commander Thomas D. Davies, who piloted the Navy's Truculent Turtle in its record-breaking flight from Australia to Ohio.
From Time Magazine Archive
His Majesty's Submarine Truculent was headed up the Thames estuary for the Chatham Naval Base, after a diving test cruise in the North Sea.
From Time Magazine Archive
Of the 79 aboard the Truculent only 15 had been saved.
From Time Magazine Archive
When a Truculent Nero, a Devil of a Man, was turned in upon the World, it was said, in 1 Pet.
From The Wonders of the Invisible World Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England, to which is added A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches by Mather, Cotton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
