truculence

1 an inclination to fight or quarrel a congenital truculence that resulted in his spending most of his adolescence in juvenile detention homes Synonyms aggression, aggressiveness, assaultiveness, bellicosity, belligerency, combativeness, contentiousness, defiance, disputatiousness, feistiness, fight, militance, militancy, militantness, pugnacity, quarrelsomeness, scrappiness, belligerenceRelated Words antagonism, fierceness, hostility, hyperaggressiveness, unfriendliness; imperialism, jingoism, militarism; acidity, biliousness, captiousness, crabbiness, crankiness, crossness, disagreeableness, fractiousness, fretfulness, grouchiness, grumpiness, huffiness, irascibility, irascibleness, irritability, irritableness, orneriness, peevishness, pettishness, petulance, querulousness, rudeness, surliness, testiness, waspishnessNear Antonyms antiaggression, anti-imperialism, antimilitarism; affability, amiability, amicability, benevolence, cordiality, friendliness, geniality, graciousness, pleasantness, sociability; gentleness, kindliness, mildness; amenability, complaisance, placabilityAntonyms nonaggression, pacifism

2 disposition to willfully inflict pain and suffering on others beneath his suave, polished exterior lay the truculence of a common street thug Synonyms atrociousness, atrocity, barbarity, barbarousness, brutality, cruelness, fiendishness, heartlessness, inhumanity, inhumanness, sadism, savageness, savagery, cruelty, viciousness, wantonnessRelated Words hard-heartedness, mercilessness, pitilessness, ruthlessness, unfeelingness; fellness, ferociousness, ferocity, fierceness, grimness; bloodlust, bloodthirstiness, murderousness, sanguineness, sanguinity; cattiness, despitefulness, hatefulness, malevolence, maliciousness, malignity, meanness, nastiness, spitefulness; hardhandedness, harshness, heavy-handedness, oppressivenessNear Antonyms tenderness, warmheartedness, warmness, warmth; charitableness, clemency, leniency, mercifulness, mercy, pityAntonyms benignity, compassion, good-heartedness, humaneness, humanity, kindheartedness, kindness, sympathy, tenderheartedness