bellicose

[bel-i-kohs]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bellicose ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

inclined or eager to fight; aggressively hostile; belligerent; pugnacious.

Origin of bellicose

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin bellicōsus, equivalent to bellic(us) pertaining to war (bell(um) war + -icus -ic) + -ōsus -ose¹

Related formsbel·li·cose·ly, adverbbel·li·cos·i·ty

[bel-i-kos-i-tee] /ˌbɛl ɪˈkɒs ɪ ti/, bel·li·cose·ness, nounun·bel·li·cose, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bellicose

antagonistic, combative, threatening, aggressive, argumentative, hostile, pugnacious, quarrelsome, warlike, warring

Examples from the Web for bellicose

Contemporary Examples of bellicose

In the last decades of his life he became reclusive and bellicose.
Why Can’t Movies Capture Genius?
Clive Irving
December 14, 2014
This explains why the Tea Party faithful often appear to be so bellicose.
The Tea Party Isn’t a Political Movement, It’s a Religious One
Jack Schwartz
July 13, 2014
In 2009 he published a book defaming Hitchens and Richard Dawkins because he was irked by their bellicose brand of atheism.
Do We Need to Be Told How to Read?
William Giraldi
June 6, 2013
China is clearly frustrated with its destitute, bellicose neighbor.
Hey, Obama: Keep Out of North Korea
Peter Beinart
April 8, 2013
She contrasted its timidity with a bellicose anti-Hagel salvo from the Christian-right group Concerned Women for America.
The GOP’s Steep Descent Into Extreme Politics and Doctrine
Peter Beinart
February 28, 2013

Historical Examples of bellicose

I am the least bellicose of men, I believe I can say I may afford to be so.
The Daltons, Volume I (of II)
Charles James Lever
The disappointment was felt keenly even by the bellicose cook.
Up the Forked River
Edward Sylvester Ellis
Pountner and Holdenough were to some extent ashamed of their bellicose Dean.
Is He Popenjoy?
Anthony Trollope
Yet how if those young men are not bellicose like their wise seniors?
Waiting for Daylight
Henry Major Tomlinson
The family Spratt-head was rather a fat-head,And a bellicose body to boot.
The Book of Humorous Verse
Various

British Dictionary definitions for bellicose

bellicose

adjective

warlike; aggressive; ready to fight

Derived Formsbellicosely, adverbbellicosity (ˌbɛlɪˈkɒsɪtɪ), noun

Word Origin for bellicose

C15: from Latin bellicōsus, from bellum war

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

Word Origin and History for bellicose

adj.

early 15c., from Latin bellicosus "warlike, valorous, given to fighting," from bellicus "of war," from bellum "war," Old Latin duellum, dvellum, of uncertain origin.