Thesaurus

pugnacious

adjective

Synonyms and Antonyms of pugnacious

feeling or displaying eagerness to fight

a movie reviewer who is spirited, even pugnacious, when defending her opinions

Synonyms of pugnacious

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

Words Related to pugnacious

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

Phrases Synonymous with pugnacious

Near Antonyms of pugnacious

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

Antonyms of pugnacious

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

Synonym Discussion of pugnacious

belligerent, bellicose, pugnacious, quarrelsome, contentious mean having an aggressive or fighting attitude. belligerent often implies being actually at war or engaged in hostilities.

- belligerent nations

bellicose suggests a disposition to fight.

- a drunk in a bellicose mood

pugnacious suggests a disposition that takes pleasure in personal combat.

- a pugnacious gangster

quarrelsome stresses an ill-natured readiness to fight without good cause.

- the heat made us all quarrelsome

contentious implies perverse and irritating fondness for arguing and quarreling.

- wearied by his contentious disposition

Learn More about pugnacious

See words that rhyme with pugnacious Dictionary: Definition of pugnacious Spanish Central: Translation of pugnacious Nglish: Translation of pugnacious for Spanish speakers

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misnomer

a wrong name or inappropriate designation