pugnacious

English

Etymology

Latin, a form of pugnō (“I fight”), from pugnus (“fist”), from Proto-Indo-European roots.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪʃəs

Adjective

pugnacious (comparative more pugnacious, superlative most pugnacious)

1. Naturally aggressive or hostile; combative; belligerent.
   • 1858, Anthony Trollope, Dr Thorne, ch. 3:

     Not that the doctor was a bully, or even pugnacious, in the usual sense of the word; he had no disposition to provoke a fight, no propense love of quarrelling.

   • 1904, Jack London, The Sea Wolf, ch. 15:

     As he made the demand he spat out a mouthful of blood and teeth and shoved his pugnacious face close to Oofty-Oofty.

   • 2003, Ken Follett, Hornet Flight, ISBN 9780451210746, pp. 249-250:

     In the face of bad news Churchill normally became even more pugnacious, always wanting to respond to defeat by going on the attack.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:combative

Related terms

• impugn
• poniard
• pugilism
• pugnacity
• repugn (repugnant)

Translations

aggressive, belligerent

• Catalan: pugnaç (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 好鬥的 (cmn)

• Dutch: strijdlustig (nl), vechtlustig (nl), vijandig (nl), vijandig (nl)
• Finnish: taistelunhaluinen (fi)
• French: pugnace (fr)
• Galician: pugnaz (gl)
• German: kampflustig (de), streitsüchtig (de)
• Italian: pugnace (it)
• Latin: pugnax (la)

• Maori: pukungangare (mi), ririhau (mi)
• Occitan: pugnaç (oc)
• Polish: wojowniczy (pl), awanturniczy (pl) m
• Portuguese: pugnaz (pt), pugnace (pt), belicoso (pt)
• Russian: драчливый (ru) (dračlívyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ратоборан (sh)

  Roman: ratoboran (sh)

• Spanish: pugnaz (es), belicoso (es)