trigger-happy

adjective

Definition of trigger-happynext
as in belligerent

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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 trigger-happy Torched by the Warriors from 3-point range last Sunday, Denver limited the trigger-happy Celtics to a 12-for-43 clip downtown. — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 26 Feb. 2026 We should be asked how our youth retain the impulse to be free when trigger-happy Israeli soldiers and snipers are ordered to kill unarmed children demanding their human rights. — Literary Hub, 11 Feb. 2026 The fifth pick in the 2025 draft has shown flashes as a scorer and pull-up shooter and has surprised many with his ability to make quick-decision passes, something that wasn’t exactly a feature of his game in his one trigger-happy season at Rutgers. — John Hollinger, New York Times, 3 Feb. 2026 The Iranian government has long maintained a rather trigger-happy approach to censorship, to put it mildly. — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 28 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for trigger-happy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for trigger-happy
  1. belligerent
  2. pugnacious
  3. bellicose
  4. combative
  5. warlike
  6. aggressive
  7. militant
  8. truculent
Adjective
  • The tit-for-tat strikes and increasingly belligerent posture from both sides roiled markets and is threatening to unravel the memorandum of understanding signed last month to end the war.
    — Zac Anderson, USA Today, 8 July 2026
  • America, the world’s oldest, continuous, modern democracy, will soon celebrate its 250th birthday—mired in conflict and piloted by a belligerent and mercurial nationalist.
    — Dominic Erdozain, Time, 3 July 2026
Definition of belligerent
Adjective
  • With his pugnacious, buccaneering management style, Gandler was not typical casting for a Disney executive, however.
    — Dade Hayes, Deadline, 9 July 2026
  • Vance, who privately voiced his concerns about conflict with Iran in the lead-up to the war, is pugnacious and transactional.
    — Vivian Salama, The Atlantic, 27 June 2026
Definition of pugnacious
Adjective
  • At least, that’s what the bellicose rhetoric from Tehran suggests.
    — Ariel Cohen, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
  • At National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, a controversial but popular Russian studies program introduced last fall has nothing to do with the glories of imperial Russia and everything to do with the thinking and motivations of the bellicose power next door.
    — Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor, 27 June 2026
Definition of bellicose
Adjective
  • Their combative behavior gets under your skin as Mars and Uranus align!
    — USA TODAY, USA Today, 4 July 2026
  • Even though Clinton’s remarks Saturday received muted response on cable news due to the heatwave and Trump’s excesses, online the former President deftly tapped into the shifts among Democrats for a more combative approach to curb MAGA.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 4 July 2026
Definition of combative
Adjective
  • The poem that precedes it, the Iliad, is a cruel and beautiful work, the ultimate story of war; the Odyssey has its warlike passages, but its central energies seem almost commonplace beside the merciless fury of Achilles.
    — David Denby, New Yorker, 21 June 2026
  • One of the world’s most cooperative mammals is also one of its most warlike.
    — Big Think, Big Think, 8 May 2026
Definition of warlike
Adjective
  • Jones more aggressive Jones’ three appearances in the California Classic were defined by a passive way of playing.
    — Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 10 July 2026
  • Your dog is reactive or aggressive around other animals or strangers.
    — Ryan Brennan, Charlotte Observer, 9 July 2026
Definition of aggressive
Adjective
  • The deal envisions peaceful relations between the two states and lays out a road map to disarm the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, secure Israel’s full withdrawal from Lebanon and restore Lebanese sovereignty over its entire national territory.
    — Anthony Wanis-St John, The Conversation, 10 July 2026
  • The Conservative lawmaker David Amess was stabbed to death in 2021 by a man inspired by the militant group, Islamic State.
    — Reuters, CNN Money, 10 July 2026
Definition of militant
Adjective
  • Gradually, though, dubby hand percussion rises up from the deep, and soon a truculent, alien-sounding riff and loping dancehall cadence spin the compass point back toward Batu’s Bristol.
    — Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 6 July 2026
  • Darren McCarty, a truculent member of the Red Wings who had multiple fights with Lemieux, posted a broken heart emoji on social media and heard the news from Draper.
    — Stephen Whyno, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2026
Definition of truculent

Browse Nearby Words

triggered
trigger-happy
triggering
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Cite this Entry

“Trigger-happy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trigger-happy. Accessed 15 Jul. 2026.

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