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An affable person is pleasant, friendly, and easy to talk to.
If you are amenable to doing something, you willingly accept it without arguing.
If you are bellicose, you behave in an aggressive way and are likely to start an argument or fight.
A belligerent person or country is aggressive, very unfriendly, and likely to start a fight.
Someone who has a bilious personality is highly irritable and bad-tempered.
Someone who is boisterous is noisy, excitable, and full of boundless energy; therefore, they show a lack of disciplined restraint at times.
Bonhomie is a friendly feeling among a group of people.
Someone who is cantankerous is bad-tempered and always finds things to complain about.
If someone is complaisant, they are willing to please others and do what they want without complaining.
Conciliation is a process intended to end an argument between two groups of people.
A congenial person, place, or environment is pleasant, friendly, and enjoyable.
When someone is contentious, they are argumentative and likely to provoke a fight.
A man who is debonair is sophisticated, charming, friendly, and confident.
If you describe someone, usually a young woman, as demure, you mean that she is quiet, shy, and always behaves modestly.
Someone who is diffident is shy, does not want to draw notice to themselves, and is lacking in self-confidence.
Dissension is a disagreement or difference of opinion among a group of people that can cause conflict.
Something that is divisive is likely to cause arguments between people.
A small group or issue that is factious is controversial and promotes strong disagreement or dissatisfaction within a larger group.
If someone is inimical, they are unfriendly and will likely cause you harm.
An irascible person becomes angry very easily.
A person or group is nonpartisan when it does not support the ideas of any particular political party or group.
If someone is objective, they base their opinions on facts rather than personal feelings or beliefs.
A polemic is a strong written or spoken statement that usually attacks or less often defends a particular idea, opinion, or belief.
A troglodyte is reclusive, severely lacking in social skills, and is out of step with current times.
A truculent person is bad-tempered, easily annoyed, and prone to arguing excessively.
Adj.
pugnacious
puhg-NAY-shuhs
Context
Charlotte Marie is one pugnacious dog—she will start a fight over the smallest thing! One day an unlucky salesperson came to the house where this pugnacious or combative dog lives. It’s a good thing she’s small, because she tore right out of the house and pugnaciously bit the salesperson on both ankles, barking and biting wildly. Her owner wishes the pugnacious Charlotte Marie wasn’t so ready to fight, although it does come in handy when unwanted visitors come to the door.
Quiz:Try again!
How might a pugnacious person act?
They would be sneaky and corrupt in order to achieve a goal.
They would tell funny stories and jokes to make people like them.
They would use force and aggression to get what they want.
ViciousPug The pugnaciouspug was so vicious it would bite everyone it met.
Examples
The critical difference between the two: While Nadal is clearly galvanized by the concept of a rivalry, Federer can appear annoyed by the presence of such a bold and pugnacious challenger.
—
Sports Illustrated
Brickman, 64, is a pugnacious, abrasive political conservative who is given to offering reporters red-meat sound bites savaging plaintiffs lawyers for alleged ethical abuses.
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CNN
A pugnacious patrician who was a peacemaker to the core, he became the first director of the Peace Corps and ran Lyndon Johnston’s War on Poverty.
—
The Christian Science Monitor
The winner of the inaugural Caesars Palace Grand Prix was Alan Jones, 35, a stocky, pugnacious Australian who had won the driving title last year.
—
Sports Illustrated
One who is pugnacious is “inclined to or abounding in” wanting to “fight.”
Word Theater
Tom and Jerry A pugnacious dog is after the cat again.
The panel shows a small video clip of either the word in actual use or a scene that represents the meaning of a word. This not only breaks up the monotony of studying words but also provides another avenue to strengthen word meaning. Enjoy!
Word Constellation
Click for an interactive map of this word
Related Words
bellicose ·
belligerent ·
bilious ·
boisterous ·
cantankerous ·
contentious ·
dissension ·
divisive ·
factious ·
inimical ·
irascible ·
polemic ·
troglodyte ·
truculent ·
affable ·
amenable ·
bonhomie ·
complaisant ·
conciliation ·
congenial ·
debonair ·
demure ·
diffident ·
nonpartisan ·
objective ·
Similar sense
Opposite sense
Word Variants
pugnacity
n
→
aggressiveness
The section lists important variants and alternate definitions of the headword. Knowing variants will often help you both remember and understand the word. Not all variants are listed - only the ones we think that are important for you to know.
