TRIGGER-HAPPY Synonyms: 118 Similar and Opposite Words

trigger-happy

adjective

Definition of trigger-happy

as in belligerent

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Example Sentences

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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

Adjective

Richard Olenick and Juan Mejia were more than halfway through the flight when a man two rows behind them in the first-class section started to become belligerent, Olenick said.

— Taylor Galgano, CNN Money, 5 Sep. 2026
Bailey said the man with the gun was well known in the building for being belligerent and showing off his weapon.

— Ellen Schmidt, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of belligerent

Adjective

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
Though less overtly pugnacious than the other main far-right cabinet member, Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, with whom he is often compared, Smotrich has used his time in office to ramp up settlement building.

— Reuters, NBC news, 7 Aug. 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

Earlier in the day, UAE Team Emirates’ Kevin Vermaerke once again made his way into the day’s breakaway, the 25-year-old American having proven himself one of the most combative riders in the race after team leader Tadej Pogačar’s withdrawal.

— Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026
Suno, which has had a highly combative relationship with the music industry in recent years.

— Jem Aswad, Variety, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of combative

Adjective

Macron says fires are warlike crisis for France Out-of-control wildfires represent France’s greatest crisis since World War II, President Emmanuel Macron said.

— Mohammed Sergie, semafor.com, 29 July 2026
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

Definition of warlike

Adjective

Andersen in particular has struggled with such an aggressive role, where recovery pace and stomping channel defending are required to keep the shape.

— Thom Harris, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
Brown has two catches that converted third downs into firsts, providing a release valve against some aggressive Seahawks blitzes.

— Andrew Greif, NBC news, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of aggressive

Adjective

Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in 2003, accused of developing and directing the 9/11 attacks, as a leader of the Islamic militant group Al Qaeda.

— Larry Neumeister, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2026
The militant group is now likely to be even more maximalist in its demands and in its ambitions to assert control across the Red Sea.

— April Longley Alley, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 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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“Trigger-happy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trigger-happy. Accessed 14 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of trigger-happy

adjective

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