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 Executive director Nadav Weiman, a veteran who served in Gaza but not in this war, said distance from the target and some trigger-happy soldiers can be problematic. — Sam Mednick, Chicago Tribune, 30 May 2026 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 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
  • 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
  • Not that Georgian masculinity, with its macho, bellicose posturing and archaic codes of honor, is portrayed as anything other than fumbling and futile.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026
  • At least, that’s what the bellicose rhetoric from Tehran suggests.
    — Ariel Cohen, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
Definition of bellicose
Adjective
  • His crass, combative rhetoric, frequent public attacks and norm-breaking behavior have exhausted the American people.
    — Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 11 Nov. 2026
  • Jordan's selection, along with Stephen Miller's appointment as the president's new chief of staff, highlights a shift towards a combative political approach, Sprunt says.
    — Brittney Melton, NPR, 11 Nov. 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
  • The son of a onetime Republican who worked for President Ronald Reagan, Colom garnered attention for his aggressive campaign as Democrats widened the Senate battleground map and Hyde-Smith's vulnerabilities crystallized.
    — BILL BARROW, Arkansas Online, 12 Nov. 2026
  • In an October report, Goldman Sachs observed that intense competition and aggressive discounting by global brands had dominated the retail landscape.
    — Denni Hu, Footwear News, 12 Nov. 2026
Definition of aggressive
Adjective
  • Some reports have alleged tacit cooperation between Ansar Allah and the Al-Shabab militant group in Somalia as well.
    — Tom O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Nov. 2026
  • Eisenkot has laid out a series of conditions for any Arab party to join his coalition, including recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and declaring the Palestinian militant group Hamas a terrorist organization.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 8 Nov. 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
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Trigger-happy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trigger-happy. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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