pugnacious


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pug·na·cious

 (pŭg-nā′shəs)
adj.
Combative in nature. See Synonyms at belligerent.
[From Latin pugnāx, pugnāc-, from pugnāre, to fight, from pugnus, fist; see peuk- in Indo-European roots.]
pug·na′cious·ly adv.
pug·na′cious·ness, pug·nac′i·ty (-năs′ĭ-tē) n.

pugnacious

(pʌɡˈneɪʃəs)
adj
readily disposed to fight; belligerent
[C17: from Latin pugnāx]
pugˈnaciously adv
pugnacity, pugˈnaciousness n

pug•na•cious

(pʌgˈneɪ ʃəs)

adj.
inclined to quarrel or fight readily; quarrelsome; belligerent; combative.
[1635–45; < Latin pugnāx, s. pugnāc-, adj. derivative of pugnāre to fight; see -acious]
pug•na′cious•ly, adv.
pug•nac′i•ty (-ˈnæs ɪ ti) pug•na′cious•ness, n.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.pugnacious - tough and callous by virtue of experience
hard-bitten, hard-boiled
tough - not given to gentleness or sentimentality; "a tough character"
2.pugnacious - ready and able to resort to force or violence; "pugnacious spirits...lamented that there was so little prospect of an exhilarating disturbance"- Herman Melville; "they were rough and determined fighting men"
rough
aggressive - having or showing determination and energetic pursuit of your ends; "an aggressive businessman"; "an aggressive basketball player"; "he was aggressive and imperious; positive in his convictions"; "aggressive drivers"

pugnacious

pugnacious

adjective
Having or showing an eagerness to fight:
bellicose, belligerent, combative, contentious, hostile, militant, quarrelsome, scrappy, truculent, warlike.
Translations
taistelunhaluinen
pugnax

pugnacious

[pʌgˈneɪʃəs] ADJ → pugnaz, agresivo

pugnacious

[pʌgˈneɪʃəs] adj → pugnace

pugnacious

adj → kampfeslustig; (verbally) → streitsüchtig; expression, remark → herausfordernd; support, defence → hartnäckig; campaign → aggressiv

pugnacious

[pʌgˈneɪʃəs] adj → bellicoso/a, battagliero/a
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References in classic literature ?
For Glaucon, who is always the most pugnacious of men, was dissatisfied at Thrasymachus' retirement; he wanted to have the battle out.
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For while those female whales are characteristically timid, the young males, or forty-barrel-bulls, as they call them, are by far the most pugnacious of all Leviathans, and proverbially the most dangerous to encounter; excepting those wondrous grey-headed, grizzled whales, sometimes met, and these will fight you like grim fiends exasperated by a penal gout.
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A short, stout, ruddy young fellow, very pugnacious concerning whales, who somehow seemed to think that the great Leviathans had personally and hereditarily affronted him; and therefore it was a sort of point of honor with him, to destroy them whenever encountered.
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He was a powerfully-built man, as I have said, with a fine forehead and rather heavy features; but his eyes had that odd drooping of the skin above the lids which often comes with advancing years, and the fall of his heavy mouth at the corners gave him an expression of pugnacious resolution.
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They are jealous, too, of their territories, and extremely pugnacious, never permitting a strange beaver to enter their premises, and often fighting with such virulence as almost to tear each other to pieces.
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These, in general, are animals of peaceful demeanor, grazing quietly like domestic cattle; but this was the season when they are in heat, and when the bulls are usually fierce and pugnacious.
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And that night we slept in our own little cave high up on the cliff, though first we had to evict a couple of pugnacious youngsters who had taken possession.
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As he made the demand he spat out a mouthful of blood and teeth and shoved his pugnacious face close to Oofty-Oofty.
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Oh, just for a week or so," he answered lightly, "and as to regaining possession of it," he went on, a slightly pugnacious instinct stirring him, "I don't imagine that there'll be any difficulty about that.
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Gore's no fool; you needn't tell me that," he observed presently, in a pugnacious tone, as if poor Gritty had been urging that lawyer's capabilities; "but, you see, he isn't up to the law as Wakem is.
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The latter was a small, alert, dark-eyed man about thirty years of age, very sturdily built, with thick black eyebrows and a strong, pugnacious face.
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Fortunately, however, Mr Pyke confined himself to mere verbal smifligation, and they reached their box with no more serious interruption by the way, than a desire on the part of the same pugnacious gentleman to
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