1
as in aggressive
feeling or displaying eagerness to fight
die-hard fans who became truculent and violent after their team's loss
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in abusive
marked by harsh insulting language
a theater critic who was notorious for his titanically truculent reviews
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in brutal
having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others
played the role of a disturbed and truculent villain
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of truculent
Meanwhile, Obama was too careful; Senate Republicans were too truculent; the Steele dossier created unrealistic expectations.
—
Keith Gessen, New Yorker, 16 July 2025
Not the first imaginative, truculent Irishman to play the game, nor the last, McCracken’s militancy and principles put him at odds with the Irish Football Association.
—Michael Cox, New York Times, 12 June 2025
Merz may have taken to heart a truculent speech Vance had given days earlier at the Munich Security Conference.
—Shane Harris, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2025
Giorgia’s leadership is threatened by increasingly truculent government allies, so Arianna is overseeing the backroom process of reverting their post-Fascist party to its more tribal roots.
—Mattia Ferraresi, airmail.news, 5 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for truculent
Keith Gessen, New Yorker, 16 July 2025
Not the first imaginative, truculent Irishman to play the game, nor the last, McCracken’s militancy and principles put him at odds with the Irish Football Association.
—Michael Cox, New York Times, 12 June 2025
Merz may have taken to heart a truculent speech Vance had given days earlier at the Munich Security Conference.
—Shane Harris, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2025
Giorgia’s leadership is threatened by increasingly truculent government allies, so Arianna is overseeing the backroom process of reverting their post-Fascist party to its more tribal roots.
—Mattia Ferraresi, airmail.news, 5 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for truculent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for truculent
Adjective
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The Dallas Cowboys and team owner Jerry Jones have been very interested in the idea of getting aggressive ahead of the upcoming NFL trade deadline.—
Evan Massey,
MSNBC Newsweek,
26 Oct. 2025
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Unlike their alligator cousins, which are known to occasionally attack people, American crocodiles are shyer and less aggressive.—
David Goodhue,
Miami Herald,
26 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Based on Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir, The Chronology of Water casts the actress as a competitive swimmer who comes to terms with an abusive childhood while navigating self-destructive behavior.—
Chris Gardner,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Oct. 2025
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The period was marked by the dramatic fall from grace of his younger brother, then-Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who admitted to smoking crack cocaine and then was dogged by evidence of a string of other abusive behavior.—
NPR,
NPR,
27 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Here's everything to know about the late female killer and her brutal crimes.—
Caroline Blair,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
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The grisly events in El Fasher come over two and a half years into a brutal civil war that has claimed the lives of more than 150,000 people.—
Ivana Kottasová,
CNN Money,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Israel says the militant group can access the remains of most of the hostages.—
Maayan Lubell,
USA Today,
28 Oct. 2025
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Israel launched its war on Hamas after the October 7, 2023, terror attacks in which the militant group and its allies killed more than 1,200 people and took 251 hostages to Gaza.—
Oren Liebermann,
CNN Money,
28 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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To educate all of them in similar ways is insulting, and silly.—
Josh Hammer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
23 Sep. 2025
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Perkins said the drink bore the insulting message.—
Victoria Moorwood,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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In Pahani’s 2006 award-winning comedy Offside, about the cruel cultural chains binding Iranian women, a group of young women attempt to gain entry to a stadium to watch a World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Japan.—
Baz Bamigboye,
Deadline,
24 Oct. 2025
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There is no reason to be cruel to people.—
Sigal Ratner-Arias,
Billboard,
23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Heading into a hostile environment at the Rogers Centre, the Dodgers must defeat the Toronto Blue Jays in Games 6 and 7 to clinch their second-straight World Series title.—
Jackson Roberts,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Oct. 2025
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Plot details are very hazy, but the word on the street is that the story centers on a ne’er-do-well smuggler who finds himself in the middle of a deadly double-cross while on a job in the Caribbean Sea, resulting in him surrounded by bodies, hostile mercenaries and thirsty sharks alike.—
Borys Kit,
HollywoodReporter,
31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The ivory tower is losing luster by the second, after campuses around the country proved to be hotbeds of antisemitism, grade inflation has spiked rather than dissipated, and outrageous tuitions fund outlandish administrative salaries.—
Boston Herald editorial staff,
Boston Herald,
29 Oct. 2025
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The premise sounds exceedingly dark, but the outrageous violence and setpieces allow for the catharsis of squirms and nervous laughter.—
William Earl,
Variety,
29 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Truculent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/truculent. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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