Dictionary

bellicose en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈbɛləkoʊs/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈbɛlɪkoʊs/ (General-American)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂-der.? Proto-Italic *dwenos Archaic Latin duenos Old Latin *duenelos? Old Latin duellum Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Old Latin -icus Old Latin duellicus Latin bellicusder. Latin bellicum signumellip.? Latin bellicum Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ŏ̄dsos? Old Latin -ōssus Latin -ōsus Latin bellicosusder. Middle English bellicose English bellicose From Middle English bellicose, from Latin bellicosus.

Meanings

1. Warlike or combative in nature; aggressively hostile.
   • The core Ice Age cast—wooly mammoth Manny (Ray Romano), sabertooth tiger Diego (Denis Leary), and sloth Sid (John Leguizamo)—are set adrift, sailing the high seas on a chunk of ice until they collide with a bellicose primate (Peter Dinklage). 2012 July 12, Sam Adams, “Ice Age: Continental Drift”, in AV Club:
   • You don't have to be so bellicose, and we can work out a peaceful solution.
   • [Greenland's current Prime Minister Múte] Egede has insisted that Greenland is not for sale and he framed the polling partly as a referendum on Trump's seemingly bellicose bullying, saying the election was a "fateful choice." 2025 March 13, Scott Neuman, Willem Marx, “https://www.npr.org/2025/03/13/nx-s1-5325949/greenland-elections-trump-independence”, in NPR:
   • CHINA sent both bellicose and conciliatory signals yesterday as tension continued in the Taiwan Strait over Chinese military exercises and the deployment of US naval battle groups. 1996 March 15, James Pringle, “Peking sends out mixed signals”, in The Times, number 65,528, →ISSN, →OCLC, Overseas News, page 14, column 8:

Forms

Antonyms

pacific · peaceable · conciliatory

Coordinates

trigger-happy · warmonger

Deriveds

bellicosely · antibellicose · bellicoseness · unbellicose · nonbellicose

Relateds

bellicosity · postbellum · rebellion · antebellum · belligerent · Bellona · bellicism · rebel

Synonyms

pugnacious · belligerent

Translations (54)

ca bel·licós (1. warlike in nature) · es belicoso (1. warlike in nature) · it battagliero (1. warlike in nature) · ga cogúil (1. warlike in nature) · tl pinga (1. warlike in nature) · hi आक्रामक (1. warlike in nature) · is herskár (1. warlike in nature) · oc batalhièr (1. warlike in nature) · oc guerrejaire (1. warlike in nature) · pl wojowniczy (1. warlike in nature) · ka მეომარი (1. warlike in nature) · sga cathach (1. warlike in nature) · pt bélico (1. warlike in nature) · ka მებრძოლი (1. warlike in nature) · ru вои́нственный (1. warlike in nature) · kmr şerxwaz (1. warlike in nature) · ga taghdach (1. warlike in nature) · ja 武闘派な (1. warlike in nature) · gl bélico (1. warlike in nature) · is deilugjarn (1. warlike in nature) · ga trodach (1. warlike in nature) · uk войовни́чий (1. warlike in nature) · kmr şerxwazane (1. warlike in nature) · oc bellicós (1. warlike in nature) · is óeirinn (1. warlike in nature) · ga achrannach (1. warlike in nature) · ar عُدْوَانِيّ (1. warlike in nature) · da krigerisk (1. warlike in nature) · mi kaitaua (1. warlike in nature) · de kriegerisch (1. warlike in nature) · fr belliqueux (1. warlike in nature) · is bardagafús (1. warlike in nature) · bg во́йнствен (1. warlike in nature) · et sõjakas (1. warlike in nature) · da stridslysten (1. warlike in nature) · af strydlustig (1. warlike in nature) · hi हिंसक (1. warlike in nature) · ja 戦争好きな (1. warlike in nature) · ja 喧嘩っ早い (1. warlike in nature) · mi ririhau (1. warlike in nature) · fi riidanhaluinen (1. warlike in nature) · be ваяўні́чы (1. warlike in nature) · la bellicōsus (1. warlike in nature) · ro belicos (1. warlike in nature) · nl strijdlustig (1. warlike in nature) · ja 好戦的な (1. warlike in nature) · is errinn (1. warlike in nature) · ko 호전적 (1. warlike in nature) · nl vechtlustig (1. warlike in nature) · mk воинствен (1. warlike in nature) · it combattivo (1. warlike in nature) · fi sotaisa (1. warlike in nature) · grc πολεμικός (1. warlike in nature) · it bellicoso (1. warlike in nature)