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
Related Words
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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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.
Of the 79 aboard the Truculent only 15 had been saved.
From Time Magazine Archive
All this time, the Admiralty did not know that the Truculent had been lost.
From Time Magazine Archive
Truculent party leaders gazed at his shining pink head, heard him alternately threaten and cajole in his rasping Prussian voice.
From Time Magazine Archive
Aboard was her regular complement of six officers, 55 men, plus 18 civilian Navy yard technicians who had been checking up on recent repairs to the Truculent.
From Time Magazine Archive
Truculent perhaps, and overbearing in their pride of long voyaging over a mysterious and threatening sea, they were hardly the ambassadors to aid settlement of a dispute by frank goodwill and prudence.
From Merchantmen-at-arms : the British merchants' service in the war by Bone, David W. (David William)
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.
