Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "belligerent" []

  • Inclined or eager to fight; hostile or aggressive. (adjective)
  • Of, pertaining to, or engaged in warfare. (adjective)
  • One that is hostile or aggressive, especially one that is engaged in war. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "belligerent" in a sentence
  • "By this it was provided that thereafter the captain of a cruiser who should impress an American citizen should be liable to heavy penalties, to be enacted by law; but as the preamble to this proposition read, "Whereas it is not lawful for a belligerent to impress or carry off, from on board a neutral, seafaring persons _who are not the subjects of the belligerent_," there was admitted implicitly the right to impress those who were such subjects, the precise point at issue."
  • "If a foreign unlawful enemy belligerent is actually tried for war crimes before a military commission, he has never enjoyed constitutional due rights under the 5th and 6th Amendments."
  • "We saw an AC-130 Spectre gunship destroying a facility, which the coalition says was used as a meeting, storage and rendezvous point for what they described as belligerent elements."