Meaning

1 senses

  1. Naturally aggressive or hostile; combative; belligerent; bellicose.

    kampflustig, streitsüchtig, streitlustig

    драчли́выйdračlívyj

More definitions
  • ready and able to resort to force or violence
  • tough and callous by virtue of experience

Examples

3 sentences

  1. Sami was a pugnacious businessman.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · OsoHombre · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. Tom is prickly and pugnacious.

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  3. The general appearance, pugnacious behavior, and whitish mouth of water-snakes (Natrix) have earned them a bad reputation.

    CC0 · Tatoeba · Cangarejo · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

7 languages
Русский
By meaning 1
aggressive, belligerent:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
aggressive, belligerent:

Origin

From the stem of Latin pugnāx + -ous, from pugnō (“to fight”), from pugnus (“fist”). By su

From the stem of Latin pugnāx + -ous, from pugnō (“to fight”), from pugnus (“fist”). By surface analysis, Latin pugn- + -acious.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

more pugnacious, most pugnacious
Comparativemore pugnacious Lesson
Superlativemost pugnacious Lesson

regular

Synonyms

3 synonyms
Close in meaning

Word family

9 related words
Relatedimpugnponiardpugilismpugnacityrepugnrepugnant
Derivedpugnaciouslypugnaciousnessunpugnacious

Lessons for this word

2 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
puffinpuffypugpujapukepullA2
pugnacious — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto