Synonyms for combative
- adjective
Most common
aggressive belligerent bellicose pugnacious contentious argumentative
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Pugnacious
pugnacious, bellicose, aggressive, belligerent, truculent, antagonistic, warlike, militaristic, martial, battleful, philopolemic rare
2. Contentious
contentious, argumentative, quarrelsome, litigious, disputatious, disputative, factious
3. Agonistic
agonistic, agonistical dated
Definitions
- adj. 1
Given to fighting; disposed to engage in combat; pugnacious.
Their combative conduct leads to many problems.
Related words
- Is a kind of
- enthusiastic hostile passionate
Example sentences
- aggressive They are a bunch of inept and aggressive cretins..
- belligerent She flaunts a belligerent attitude.
- bellicose Such a bellicose attitude won't win you any friends.
- pugnacious Sami was a pugnacious businessman.
- contentious Religion is a contentious topic for many people.
- argumentative Fadil became very difficult and argumentative.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| combative | rising | |
| aggressive | rising | |
| belligerent | steady | |
| bellicose | steady | |
| pugnacious | steady | |
| contentious | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 7 letters
- martial2, warlike2
- 8 letters
- factious
- 9 letters
- litigious3, bellicose3, truculent3, agonistic, battleful
- 10 letters
- aggressive3, pugnacious3
- 11 letters
- contentious3, belligerent4, quarrelsome3, disputative, agonistical
- 12 letters
- antagonistic5, militaristic5, disputatious, philopolemic
- 13 letters
- argumentative5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (martial2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- combatif
- Italiano
- combattivo
- Español
- combativo
- Deutsch
- kämpferisch