Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "pugnacious" [pug•na•cious]

  • Combative in nature; belligerent. See Synonyms at belligerent. (adjective)

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 "pugnacious" in a sentence
  • "Jeff, in your article today regarding this debate, you called her pugnacious, and it started with the very first question."
  • "On the middle step was what vaguely resembled a cat but could more correctly be described as a pugnacious face in the middle of an otherwise featureless ragged dirty grey furball."
  • "Long before this time, when the inhabitants of the moon were sometimes governed by their passions and before the day of peace and good will had fully arrived, it had been discovered that what was known as the pugnacious instinct was only a disease, bad blood in fact as well as in name, and a remedy had been found for it."