truculent

1 feeling or displaying eagerness to fight die-hard fans who became truculent and violent after their team's loss Synonyms aggressive, agonistic, argumentative, assaultive, bellicose, brawly, chippy, combative, confrontational, contentious, discordant, disputatious, feisty, gladiatorial, militant, pugnacious, quarrelsome, scrappy, belligerent, warlikeRelated Words 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, warringNear Antonyms 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, mildAntonyms nonaggressive, nonbelligerent, pacific, peaceable, peaceful, unbelligerent, uncombative, uncontentious

2 marked by harsh insulting language a theater critic who was notorious for his titanically truculent reviews Synonyms contumelious, invective, opprobrious, scurrile (or scurril), scurrilous, abusive, vitriolic, vituperative, vituperatoryRelated Words affronting, insulting, offending, offensive, outrageous, outraging; coarse, crude, dirty, filthy, foul, foulmouthed, gross, indecent, nasty, obscene, potty-mouthed, vulgar; contemptuous, disdainful, scornful; defamatory, libelous (or libellous), scandalous, slanderous; maligning, traducing, vilifying; hateful, malevolent, malicious, spiteful; immoderate, intemperate, unbridled, unrestrainedNear Antonyms moderate, temperate; deferential, respectful; civil, courteous, gracious, mannerly, polite; discreet, judicious, tempered; encomiastic, laudative, laudatory, praiseful

3 having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others truculent warlords who spared not even the children Synonyms atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, brutal, brute, butcherly, fiendish, heartless, inhuman, inhumane, sadistic, savage, cruel, vicious, wantonRelated Words hard-hearted, ironhearted, merciless, pitiless, ruthless, stonyhearted, unfeeling; fell, ferocious, grim; bloodthirsty, cutthroat, murderous, sanguinary, sanguine; catty, despiteful, hateful, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, nasty, spiteful, vindictive; draconian, draconic, hardhanded, harsh, heavy-handed, oppressiveNear Antonyms tender, warm, warmhearted; charitable, clement, lenient, merciful, pitying; pacific, peaceable, peacefulAntonyms benign, benignant, compassionate, good-hearted, humane, kind, kindhearted, sympathetic, tenderhearted