adj.
- Inclined or eager to fight; hostile or aggressive.
- Of, pertaining to, or engaged in warfare.
One that is hostile or aggressive, especially one that is engaged in war.
[Latin belligerāns, belligerant-, present participle of belligerāre, to wage war, from belliger, warlike : bellum, war + gerere, to make.]
belligerently bel·lig'er·ent·ly adv.SYNONYMS belligerent, bellicose, pugnacious, contentious, quarrelsome. These adjectives mean having or showing an eagerness to fight. Belligerent refers to a tendency to hostile behavior: A belligerent reporter badgered the politician. Bellicose and pugnacious suggest a natural disposition to fight: "All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose" (H.L. Mencken). A good litigator needs a pugnacious intellect. Contentious implies chronic argumentativeness: "His style has been described variously as abrasive and contentious, overbearing and pompous" (Victor Merina). Quarrelsome suggests bad temper and a perverse readiness to bicker: "The men gave him much room, for he was notorious as a quarrelsome person when drunk" (Stephen Crane).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
