pugnacious

pug·na·cious

adj \ˌpəg-ˈnā-shəs\

Definition of PUGNACIOUS

: having a quarrelsome or combative nature : truculent

— pug·na·cious·ly adverb

— pug·na·cious·ness noun

— pug·nac·i·ty \-ˈna-sə-tē\ noun

Examples of PUGNACIOUS

1. There's one pugnacious member on the committee who won't agree to anything.
2. <a movie reviewer who is spirited, even pugnacious, when defending her opinions>
3. That's a bass for you: pugnacious, adaptable and ever ready to demonstrate that the first order of business on any given day, drought or no drought, is eating anything that it can fit its big, powerful mouth around. —Pete Bodo, New York Times, 22 Oct. 1995
4. Herz sees himself as a pugnacious sardine going up against rule-flouting sharks. —Richard Wolkomir, Smithsonian, August 1992
5. He was a short man with heavy shoulders, a slight potbelly, puffy blue eyes, and a pugnacious expression. —Alice Munro, New Yorker, 2 Jan. 1989
6. Podhoretz takes a more pugnacious and protesting stance, insisting on the word “seriousness” at all times and punctuating it with the word “moral”. —Christopher Hitchens, Times Literary Supplement, 30 May 1986

Origin of PUGNACIOUS

Latin pugnac-, pugnax, from pugnare to fight — more at pungent

First Known Use: 1642

Related to PUGNACIOUS

Synonyms: aggressive, agonistic, argumentative, assaultive, bellicose, brawly, chippy, combative, confrontational, contentious, discordant, disputatious, feisty, gladiatorial, militant, belligerent, quarrelsome, scrappy, truculent, warlike

Antonyms: nonaggressive, nonbelligerent, pacific, peaceable, peaceful, unbelligerent, uncombative, uncontentious

Related Words: antagonistic, fierce, hostile, hot-tempered; acidic, bearish, bilious, bristly, choleric, crabby, cranky, cross, disagreeable, dyspeptic, fractious, fretful, grouchy, grumpy, huffy, ill-humored, ill-natured, ill-tempered, irascible, irritable, ornery, peevish, pettish, petulant, prickly, querulous, rude, snappish, snappy, stroppy [British], surly, testy, touchy, ugly, waspish; savage, vicious; battling, fighting, warring

Near Antonyms: anti-imperialist, antimilitarist, unwarlike; affable, amiable, amicable, benevolent, complaisant, conciliatory, cordial, easygoing, friendly, genial, good-natured, good-tempered, gracious, ingratiating, kindhearted, obliging, pleasant, sociable; calm, quiet, relaxed, serene, tranquil; benign, gentle, kindly, mild

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See Synonym Discussion at belligerent

Rhymes with PUGNACIOUS

audacious, bodacious, capacious, cetaceous, crustaceous, curvaceous, drupaceous, edacious, fallacious, flirtatious, fugacious, hellacious, herbaceous, loquacious, mendacious, micaceous, pomaceous, predaceous, rapacious, rosaceous, sagacious, salacious, sebaceous, sequacious, setaceous, tenacious, testaceous, tufaceous, ungracious, veracious, vinaceous, voracious