as in aggressive
feeling or displaying eagerness to fight
bellicose hockey players who seem to spend more time fighting than playing
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of bellicose
The ‘detractors’ Anna Moneymaker – Getty Images The boisterous, bellicose Howard Lutnick was asked to be Secretary of Commerce as a sort of preemptive consolation prize after a bout of dramatic infighting for Treasury Secretary.
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Chloe Berger, Fortune, 27 Nov. 2024
But the Israeli military’s increasingly bellicose statements pointing to an imminent ground invasion have cooled as diplomats on the sidelines of the United General Assembly rushed to secure a pause in the fighting.
—NBC News, 28 Sep. 2024
At the same time, Barnes was a crank of operatic grandiosity—thin-skinned, bellicose, distrustful, fickle, and vindictive.
—Susan Tallman, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2025
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has accused the United States and South Korea of increasing tensions with their joint drills and Pyongyang often responds with bellicose threats.
—Yoonjung Seo, CNN, 6 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bellicose
Chloe Berger, Fortune, 27 Nov. 2024
But the Israeli military’s increasingly bellicose statements pointing to an imminent ground invasion have cooled as diplomats on the sidelines of the United General Assembly rushed to secure a pause in the fighting.
—NBC News, 28 Sep. 2024
At the same time, Barnes was a crank of operatic grandiosity—thin-skinned, bellicose, distrustful, fickle, and vindictive.
—Susan Tallman, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2025
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has accused the United States and South Korea of increasing tensions with their joint drills and Pyongyang often responds with bellicose threats.
—Yoonjung Seo, CNN, 6 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bellicose
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bellicose
Adjective
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More likely than an all-out boycott, say attorneys, is a new era in which taxpayers and their accountants push the envelope with aggressive tax-planning techniques that may escape the review of an understaffed agency.—
Robert Frank,
CNBC,
17 Apr. 2025
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Even though Trump showed signs of softening his aggressive tariff plan with an exemption last week for smartphones, computers and other electronics and floated a temporary exemption for autos, the administration continues to be amadamant more tariffs are coming soon.—
Medora Lee,
USA Today,
17 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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And in Lebanon, a series of Israeli attacks on the country have decapitated the militant group Hezbollah.—
Nadeen Ebrahim,
CNN Money,
8 Apr. 2025
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The group wrote to Bondi to argue that the influencer should be investigated over whether she has been paid to spread propaganda for Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in Gaza, it was first reported by the New York Post.—
Lauren Irwin,
The Hill,
8 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Andreas typically waits until there have been three instances of potential hostile communication before asking her friend or colleague if everything is OK.—
Angela Haupt,
Time,
28 Mar. 2025
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Home to one of the world’s largest refugee populations – most of them from Afghanistan – Pakistan has not always welcomed the foreigners, subjecting them to hostile living conditions and threatening deportation over the years.—
Sophia Saifi,
CNN Money,
28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The Houthis are what one veteran Yemen-watcher calls the honey badgers of resistance, referring to the belligerent mammal known for its fearless attitude toward predators.—
Nadeen Ebrahim,
CNN Money,
6 Apr. 2025
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The driver pulled out a gun and fired six shots, the witness said, hitting not only the belligerent passenger but also an uninvolved man sitting nearby.—
Theresa Braine,
New York Daily News,
31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The bottom line: Bipartisanship is the most obvious casualty of Schumer's new warlike posture toward the GOP.—
Hans Nichols,
Axios,
21 Mar. 2025
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Freyja, however, is a more warlike goddess, and even has a part in selecting warriors for her hall in the afterlife.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes,
2 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bellicose.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bellicose. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
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