Link Centre Dictionary

pugnacious

pug·na·cious

UK/pʌɡˈneɪ.ʃəs/ US/pʌˈɡnæʃɪs/ uncommon

adjective

1.
2.

ready and able to resort to force or violence

  • “pugnacious spirits...lamented that there was so little prospect of an exhilarating disturbance” Herman Melville
  • “they were rough and determined fighting men”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

From the stem of Latin pugnāx + -ous, from pugnō (“to fight”), from pugnus (“fist”). By surface analysis, Latin pugn- + -acious.

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.