Bellicose: meaning, example and synonyms
Bellicoseadj. Eager to fight or quarrel; aggressive and warlike.
Example
Historians note that the young monarch's bellicose speeches alarmed neighboring kingdoms, which began fortifying their borders against an attack that never came.
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Synonyms
- belligerent, hostile, combative, pugnacious
- Antonyms
- peaceable, pacific, conciliatory
- Memory tip
- Latin bellum = war: a bellicose person is spoiling for a fight.
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Check yourself: Bellicose in context
The neighboring chieftain's ______ speeches, filled with threats of conquest and boasts about his warriors, convinced the village elders to begin building a defensive wall.
Answer: bellicose. Threats of conquest show eagerness to fight, so bellicose fits. abstruse (hard to understand), reminiscent (suggestive of something else) and deleterious (harmful) don't fit this context.
Unlike its peaceful cousins, the male of this fish species is famously ______, flaring its fins and charging at any rival that enters its territory.
Answer: bellicose. Charging at every rival, in contrast to peaceful cousins, is aggressive, so bellicose fits. abstruse (hard to understand), copious (plentiful) and extemporaneous (improvised) don't fit this context.