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Definition of "truculent" [tru•cu•lent]

  • Disposed to fight; pugnacious. (adjective)
  • Expressing bitter opposition; scathing: a truculent speech against the new government. (adjective)
  • Disposed to or exhibiting violence or destructiveness; fierce. (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 "truculent" in a sentence
  • "A kind of truculent honesty which he could never dissemble for long, always stood in his way."
  • "To interpret him according to this image -- a womanish figure in a long robe and a turban, with big bare arms and a dramatic pose -- would be to think of him as a kind of truculent sultana."
  • "As Mrs. Dinks made no reply, and assumed the appearance of a lady who, for her own private and inscrutable reasons, had concluded to forego the prerogative of speech for evermore, while she fanned herself calmly, and regarded Fanny with a kind of truculent calmness that seemed to say,"