First Known Use: 15th century
Dictionary
bellicose
adjective bel·li·cose \ˈbe-li-ˌkōs\
: having or showing a tendency to argue or fight
Full Definition of BELLICOSE
: favoring or inclined to start quarrels or wars
— bel·li·cos·i·ty \ˌbe-li-ˈkä-sə-tē\ noun
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Examples of BELLICOSE
- Never in peacetime, perhaps, have the statements of our government officials been more relentlessly bellicose. Yet their actions have been comparatively cautious. —New Yorker, 24 June 1985
- For three centuries Viking raiders haunted western Europe. The bellicose Charlemagne himself felt menaced. —Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers, 1983
- His evident calm, which always infuriated the opposition, must have irritated the bellicose colonel to a point at which he could control himself no longer. —Michael Pearson, Those Damned Rebels, 1972
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Origin of BELLICOSE
Middle English, from Latin bellicosus, from bellicus of war, from bellum war
Related to BELLICOSE
- Synonyms
- aggressive, agonistic, argumentative, assaultive, belligerent, brawly, chippy, combative, confrontational, contentious, discordant, disputatious, feisty, gladiatorial, militant, pugnacious, quarrelsome, scrappy, truculent, warlike
- Antonyms
- nonaggressive, nonbelligerent, pacific, peaceable, peaceful, unbelligerent, uncombative, uncontentious
Synonym Discussion of BELLICOSE
belligerent, bellicose, pugnacious, quarrelsome, contentious mean having an aggressive or fighting attitude. belligerent often implies being actually at war or engaged in hostilities <belligerent nations>. bellicose suggests a disposition to fight <a drunk in a bellicose mood>. pugnacious suggests a disposition that takes pleasure in personal combat <a pugnacious gangster>. quarrelsome stresses an ill-natured readiness to fight without good cause <the heat made us all quarrelsome>. contentious implies perverse and irritating fondness for arguing and quarreling <wearied by his contentious disposition>.
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