HOT-TEMPERED Synonyms: 102 Similar and Opposite Words

hot-tempered

adjective

Definition of hot-tempered

as in antagonistic

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of hot-tempered In addition, teens who are dealing with intense emotions that are hard to cope with are often hot-tempered and easily irritated. — Staff Author, Parents, 9 Mar. 2026 What is the strategy for living with someone who is exceedingly hot-tempered? — R. Eric Thomas, Mercury News, 25 Oct. 2025 The movie co-stars Albert Finney as an acclaimed and hot-tempered writer named George and Keaton as Faith, the wife and mother of his children, who gave up her own dreams to support him, only to get thrown over for a younger woman (Karen Allen). — Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 12 Oct. 2025 Robbie is a complicated man, at once incredibly compassionate and deeply self-centered, philosophical and brooding but also impulsive and hot-tempered. — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for hot-tempered

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hot-tempered

Adjective

Elon Musk, an original cofounder of the company who left in 2018, had grown increasingly antagonistic toward his onetime colleagues while also growing close to the incoming administration.

— Julia Black, Vanity Fair, 2 Nov. 2026
His reputation for having a gruff demeanor, Sweet says, is accurate, but attack ads that portray him as antagonistic toward women go too far.

— Julia Terruso, Time, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of antagonistic

Adjective

The Navy's Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen, known as SWCCs, are elite maritime operators training to operate high-speed, heavily armed boats that transport Navy SEALs into and out of hostile territory, along with other maritime missions.

— James LaPorta, CBS News, 5 Nov. 2026
Even as crime drops and car crashes recede, New York’s streets and parks have grown increasingly hostile to those who are frail, slow, disabled, or small.

— Justin Davidson, Curbed, 5 Nov. 2026

Definition of hostile

Adjective

Food Scarcity Blue jays often look belligerent, even when their behavior is rooted in the same instincts as other birds.

— Blythe Copeland, Martha Stewart, 31 Oct. 2026
In each of the future belligerent countries, elite schools would have long regarded it as their duty to instill in their pupils, the officer class in the making, a martial spirit.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2026

Definition of belligerent

Adjective

Hilton cuts a colorful and pugnacious figure on the campaign trail.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2026
In 2005, the Cage was opened by Ross (the Boss) Friedman, a founding member of the pugnacious and seminal punk band the Dictators, stalwarts of the early CBGB scene.

— Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026

Definition of pugnacious

Adjective

The combative politician with a strong regional accent and a populist touch made his party a serious rival to Bavaria’s long-dominant Christian Social Union, or CSU, which is part of the center-right bloc that leads Germany.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2026
This is in contract to the combative relationship Villanueva demonstrated with the board and oversight committees during his one-term in office.

— Steve Scauzillo, Daily News, 4 Nov. 2026

Definition of combative

Adjective

Volatile, quarrelsome, dogmatic, and sure of his own brilliance, Reinhold outraged patrons, amassed huge debts, and turned his eldest son into an exhausted workhorse.

— Jenny Uglow, The New York Review of Books, 4 July 2026
The toys, like the perpetually quarrelsome Woody and Buzz or Jessie the cowgirl, who now takes center stage, have seen their boy and girl owners grow up and leave them behind.

— Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 16 June 2026

Definition of quarrelsome

Adjective

Gray has always displayed a probing visual style, boldly confrontational yet painfully tender.

— Richard Brody, New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2026
And nobody talks about the stuff that happened in his contradictory and confrontational relationship with his father.

— Mikey O'Connell, HollywoodReporter, 5 Nov. 2026

Definition of confrontational

Browse Nearby Words

hotted (up)

hot-tempered

hot ticket

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“Hot-tempered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hot-tempered. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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Synonyms of hot-tempered

adjective

Example Sentences

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