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belligerent

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belligerent

  • /bəˈlɪdʒ.ə.ɹənt/ Australia, UK
  • [bəˈlɪdʒ.ə.ɹənt] ~ [bəˈlɪdʒ.ə.ɹn̩t] Australia, UK
  • /bəˈlɪd͡ʒ.ɚ.ənt/ US
  • [bəˈlɪd͡ʒ.ɚ.ənt] ~ [bəˈlɪd͡ʒ.ɹ̩.n̩t] US

Where it comes from

From Latin belligerans (“waging war”), present active participle of belligerō (“to wage war”), from belliger (“waging war, warlike”), from bellum (“war”) + -ger (from gerō (“to lead, wage, carry on”)).

adjective more belligerent · most belligerent

  1. Engaged in warfare, warring.
  2. Eager to go to war, warlike.
  3. Of or pertaining to war.
  4. broadly Aggressively hostile, eager to fight. And I think the facts are that Beijing is a belligerent bully jealous and envious of what Taiwan has accomplished- mainland China- that's what I get out of all of this.

    Similar: aggressive, antagonistic, bellicose, combative, contentious, pugnacious, quarrelsome, truculent

  5. Acting violently towards others.
  6. Uncooperative. "Hmm." "Problem?" "Arianna warned me this might be a challenging shoot. I think she was worried about you being belligerent, but the real issue is turning out to be your specularity. It looks like I'm taking pictures of a flashbang."

Opposite: conciliatory, friendly, peaceful

noun belligerents

  1. A state or other armed participant in warfare The UN sent a treaty proposal to the belligerents.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: warring, militant, fighting, battler, fighter, combatant, aggressive, scrapper, hostile, war-ridden, unpeaceful, hostilities, warlike, bellicose, war, belligerency

adjective

Opposite: conciliatory, friendly, peaceful

Translations

Every language

adj 1. engaged in warfare

Españolbeligerante
中文參戰的 /参战的 cānzhàn de, 交戰的 /交战的 jiāozhàn de
Portuguêsbeligerante
Françaisbelligérant
Deutschkriegführend, Krieg führend
Italianobelligerante
Românăbeligerant
Русскийвою́ющий vojújuščij, вражду́ющий vraždújuščij

adj 2. eager to go to war

Españolbeligerante
Portuguêsbeligerante, belicoso
Françaisbelliqueux
Deutschkampflustig, kriegerisch
Italianobellicoso
Русскийвои́нственный voínstvennyj

adj 3. of or pertaining to war

Portuguêsbélico
Françaisbellique
DeutschKriegs-
Italianobellico
Românăde război
Русскийвое́нный vojénnyj

adj 4. hostile, eager to fight

Portuguêsbeligerante
Françaisbelliqueux
Deutschstreitlustig, kampflustig
Italianobellicoso
Românăbelicos, certăreț
Русскийвражде́бный vraždébnyj, вои́нственный voínstvennyj

adj 5. acting violently

Portuguêsbelicoso
Françaisbelliqueux
Русскийагресси́вный agressívnyj

noun state or other armed participant in warfare

Españolbeligerante, partes beligerantes, partes enfrentadas
日本語交戦国 kōsen koku, 交戦団体 kōsen dantai
中文交战国 jiāozhànguó
Portuguêsbeligerante, beligerantes
Françaisbelligérant
DeutschKonfliktpartei
Italianobelligerante
Русскийвоюющая сторона́ vojujuščaja storoná, уча́стник конфликта učástnik konflikta

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Cite this
MLA

"belligerent." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/belligerent. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

belligerent. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/belligerent

Chicago

"belligerent." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/belligerent.

BibTeX
@misc{belligerent_2026,
  title = {belligerent},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/belligerent},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}