truculent
/ˈtrʌkjʊl(ə)nt
/adjective
Eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant: the truculent attitude of farmers to cheaper imports...
- The truculent aggression and stiff-necked unilateralism of both teams are already well known.
- It is that truculent attitude that most irritates many military men.
- ‘He was a truculent and feisty character who you couldn't fail to admire and I believe those wartime experiences took a toll on his health in later years,’ he said.
Synonyms
defiant, aggressive, antagonistic, belligerent, pugnacious, bellicose, combative, confrontational, ready for a fight, hostile, obstreperous, argumentative, quarrelsome, contentious, uncooperative;
bad-tempered, ill-tempered, sullen, surly, cross, ill-natured, rude, discourteous, unpleasant
informal feisty, spoiling for a fight
British informal stroppy, bolshie
North American informal scrappy
Derivatives
truculence
/ noun ...- I lost four friends in 18 months because of my truculence, my antagonism, my aggression and my mood swings.
- The truculence and resentment with which she describes these encounters are erased in later editions.
- The truculence this combination produces in some highly vocal members of the community is hardly attractive to private-sector employers, thus completing a vicious circle.
truculently
/ adverb ...- Bill adds, truculently: ‘All that stuff happened about two or three weeks before it opened and then we never heard another whisper out of them.’
- And yet, were it not for those social and masculine pressures, it is difficult to imagine that women would make some of the ‘personal’ choices they now truculently defend.
- During the first quarter of the 20th century, nationalism and socialism were assimilated into Irish politics to repel the British occupation, but Irish writers truculently refused to follow these beliefs blindly.
truculency
Origin
Mid 16th century: from Latin truculentus, from trux, truc- 'fierce'.