pugnacity

Noun

Meaning

Inclination or readiness to fight; quarrelsomeness.

Source: Webster's dictionary

Synonyms

belligerence aggressiveness pugnaciousness attack malice fight violence spirit determination aggression anger hostility resentment brutality animosity
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Antonyms

humanity consideration friendship affection forgiveness compassion
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Hypernyms

disagreeableness

Hyponyms

bellicosity truculence bellicoseness truculency

Examples

Modern war is so expensive that we feel trade to be a better avenue to plunder; but modern man inherits all the innate pugnacity and all the love of glory of his ancestors. William James

There are who mistake the spirit of pugnacity for the spirit of piety, and thus harbor a devil instead of an angel. John Lancaster Spalding

The current rampages of territorial-emotional pugnacity sweeping this planet are not just another civilization failing ... They are the birth-pangs of a cosmic Prometheus rising out of the long nightmare of domesticated primate history. Robert Anton Wilson

The fact that men are naturally quarrelsome is presumed to be an argument against such institutions as the League. But it is precisely the fact of the natural pugnacity of man that makes such institutions necessary. Norman Angell

Pugnacity is a form of courage, but a very bad form. Sinclair Lewis

There was only one virtue, pugnacity only one vice, pacifism. That is an essential condition of war. George Bernard Shaw

Close letter words and terms

pugnacious pugnaciously pugnaciousness pugnatious pugne pugnellid