bellicose
inclined or eager to fight; aggressively hostile; belligerent; pugnacious.
Origin of bellicose
1Other words from bellicose
- bel·li·cose·ly, adverb
- bel·li·cos·i·ty [bel-i-kos-i-tee], /ˌbɛl ɪˈkɒs ɪ ti/, bel·li·cose·ness, noun
- un·bel·li·cose, adjective
Words Nearby bellicose
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use bellicose in a sentence
There’s a lot of bellicose posturing from politicians and from people on social media fueling this conflict, but at its core, war comes down to moments like this, when one side or the other finds itself at the mercy of their enemy.
McQuade said the choice of Fernich suggests the campaign may be mostly concerned with presenting a bellicose image.
What Matt Gaetz’s Legal Lineup Tells Us About His Troubles | Roger Sollenberger | September 27, 2021 | The Daily BeastOver his decades in New York politics, the Governor’s bellicose personality hasn’t changed, but the landscape around it has.
Andrew Cuomo Was a 'Resistance' Icon. Now There's 'Blood in the Water' | Charlotte Alter | March 2, 2021 | TimeIn the last decades of his life he became reclusive and bellicose.
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 | THE DAILY BEAST
Despite bellicose statements to the contrary, China did nothing to intervene as the U.S. bombers passed through the area.
U.S. Uses B-52 Bombers to Brush Back Chinese Expansion | Nico Hines | November 27, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTIn 2009 he published a book defaming Hitchens and Richard Dawkins because he was irked by their bellicose brand of atheism.
Meanwhile, the usually tentative European powers have joined the more bellicose part of the choir.
The bellicose ardor of the stripling seemed to strike the royal envoy even more forcibly than anything he had yet seen.
The Pilgrim's Shell or Fergan the Quarryman | Eugne SueNaturally those parts of the river which remained unexplored were supposed to be the land of the "bellicose dames."
Female Warriors, Vol. I (of 2) | Ellen C. ClaytonFor one or the other to make way by temporarily backing, was, of course—to bellicose goats—entirely out of the question.
Two bellicose goats once encountered each other in the middle of a narrow bridge spanning a deep gulf and a raging torrent.
On account of his bellicose nature he was given the sobriquet of "Red Hot Jones."
British Dictionary definitions for bellicose
/ (ˈbɛlɪˌkəʊs, -ˌkəʊz) /
warlike; aggressive; ready to fight
Origin of bellicose
1Derived forms of bellicose
- bellicosely, adverb
- bellicosity (ˌbɛlɪˈkɒsɪtɪ), 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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