Definition of "trigger-happy" [trigger-happy]

• Slang Having a tendency or desire to shoot a firearm before adequately identifying the target. (adjective)
• Slang Inclined to react violently at the slightest provocation. (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.

• "We wanted to find a point of weakness, an issue where the public had serious doubts, so we drew up a list of possibilities: fairness in society, his trigger-happy attitude toward nuclear war, the two-tier economy, his age and mental acuity, and his bellicose approach to foreign affairs."
• "We had the [Date Lab] cameras, and after a few drinks, we were getting trigger-happy with them."
• "So adding a trigger-happy shooter to this roster doesn't make a whole lot of sense on the surface."