as in aggressive
feeling or displaying eagerness to fight
the player became quite belligerent and was thrown out of the game
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in combatant
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of belligerent
Taylor Seely, AZCentral.com, 21 Aug. 2025
Social deficits can manifest as belligerent or meek.
—Tao Lin, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
Omar Al-Ubaydli, semafor.com, 8 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for belligerent
Adjective
Abram told The Arizona Republic that Merrill was belligerent and had shoved him the day before.
—Taylor Seely, AZCentral.com, 21 Aug. 2025
Social deficits can manifest as belligerent or meek.
—Tao Lin, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
Noun
This significantly decreases the likelihood of collateral damage on the forces deployed by a security guarantor, allowing that partner to be a neutral and idle spectator rather than an active belligerent.
—Omar Al-Ubaydli, semafor.com, 8 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for belligerent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for belligerent
Adjective
-
That’s the kind of chance that last season, a more aggressive-looking Stolarz would have used his frame — and frankly, his big-game presence — to turn away with ease.—
Joshua Kloke,
New York Times,
9 Nov. 2025
-
The agency has also faced criticism for aggressive tactics used by ICE agents in executing the president’s immigration policy.—
Andy Rose 19 hr ago,
CNN Money,
9 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
The bitter standoff has been the most high-profile of the year, given the scale of the combatants and the timing of it in the middle of football season.—
Dade Hayes,
Deadline,
5 Nov. 2025
-
But despite the lack of Fall Classic combatants, there were plenty of intriguing elements to the awards, which honored 20 players from the National and American leagues.—
Alex Valdes,
New York Times,
3 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Even leaving these facts aside, neither the doctrinaire socialism nor militant Islam have ever improved any place on earth, and New York City will not be the first.—
Newsweek Contributors,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
-
He was held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group in Gaza allied with Hamas which also held Israeli hostages during the war.—
Jeremy Diamond,
CNN Money,
5 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Those involve besting a fellow warrior in battle.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
4 Nov. 2025
-
Dek is the weakest link in his warrior family, and the arrival of their father cements that fact; there is no sentimentality here as the elder predator orders Kwei to kill his brother and be done with him.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
There are guns, horses, ghosts, a primal struggle for survival in hostile terrain, family feuds and a steadily intensifying sense of mortal threat, as Old Porch’s ambition and psychopathy escalate the drama.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
6 Nov. 2025
-
Fire department suffering low morale When Washington was fired, City Manager Sheryl Long blamed him for creating a hostile work environment for female firefighters and for failing to improve the department's workplace culture.—
Aaron Valdez,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
6 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Earlier this year, the Israeli military retrieved the body of another soldier who was killed in the 2014 war.—
Stephen Sorace,
FOXNews.com,
9 Nov. 2025
-
Just off the Gregory House, a trail leads to the Hammock Landing Battery, where Confederate soldiers guarded the river from attack, protecting their manufacturing hub in Columbus, Georgia.—
Carrie Honaker,
Travel + Leisure,
9 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
State troopers were on scene while the power lines were cleared from the roadway.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
7 Nov. 2025
-
The trooper went back to his colleagues for a few minutes, then came back to arrest him.—
Verónica Egui Brito,
Miami Herald,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Originally a collaboration between Colen and former British serviceman Iain Wood, the company was founded 12 years ago to produce watches for the country’s Scots Guards, the latter’s erstwhile regiment.—
Oscar Holland,
CNN Money,
6 Nov. 2025
-
There was the time when the president and first lady hosted a large dinner to honor servicemen who had been prisoners of war during the Vietnam War.—
Kaitlyn Schallhorn,
Oc Register,
29 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Belligerent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/belligerent. Accessed 12 Nov. 2025.
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