Synonyms for belligerent
- adjective
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Bellicose — aggressively hostile, eager to fight
bellicose, hostile, combative, aggressive, pugnacious, antagonistic, quarrelsome, truculent, contentious, warlike, argumentative, conflicting, disputatious, hawkish, litigious, philopolemic rare
2. Militant
Definitions
- adj. 1
Aggressively hostile, eager to fight.
- adj. 2
Engaged in warfare, warring.
Related words
- Word family
- belligerently bellicose belligerence
Example sentences
- aggressive They are a bunch of inept and aggressive cretins..
- hostile The Soviet Union took a hostile attitude toward us.
- combative The combative patient was given a tranquilizer.
- bellicose Such a bellicose attitude won't win you any friends.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| belligerent | steady | |
| aggressive | rising | |
| hostile | steady | |
| combative | rising | |
| bellicose | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- rival2
- 7 letters
- hostile2, warring2, warlike2, hawkish2
- 8 letters
- fighting2, militant3
- 9 letters
- combative3, litigious3, bellicose3, truculent3
- 10 letters
- aggressive3, pugnacious3, unpeaceful
- 11 letters
- conflicting3, contentious3, quarrelsome3
- 12 letters
- antagonistic5, disputatious, philopolemic
- 13 letters
- argumentative5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (rival2 = 2 syllables).