belligerently
Americanadverb
Explanation
Mean people are not cool. They go around acting belligerently, or being hostile and aggressive to others. No one likes a meanie. The word belligerently comes from the Latin belligerant meaning "waging war," which is in effect, what someone acting belligerently is doing. Think of those two l's in the word as two soldiers marching in formation and you might have some help remembering that belligerently is spelled with two l's and not one. Often this word is used to describe the way that some people start to behave when they've had too much to drink, lashing out belligerently, or being overly aggressive.
Vocabulary lists containing belligerently
Of Mice and Men
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Number the Stars
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Fighting Words: Belli and Milit
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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.
But videos of the event, combined with Duncan’s behavior on the bench so far, strongly suggest that he did prepare himself—not to “stay composed,” but to belligerently insult the protesters with schoolyard taunts.
From Slate ● Mar. 13, 2023
When people in the audience at a presentation ask questions belligerently, Berg responds, “Do you feel better? Can I continue?”
From Scientific American ● Mar. 25, 2022
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev acted belligerently during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, but President John F. Kennedy confronted him forcefully and defused a situation maddeningly close to nuclear war.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 7, 2022
A week or two before the dog, a middle-aged man reacted belligerently when, just before he boarded the plane, Veronica asked him to pull up his mask.
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2022
He saw Jim Don turn completely around in his seat and stare belligerently at Ben.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
