bellicose
pronunciation
How to pronounce bellicose in British English:
UK [ˈbelɪkəʊs]
How to pronounce bellicose in American English:
US [ˈbelɪkoʊs]
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- Adjective:
- having or showing a ready disposition to fight
Word Origin
- bellicose
- bellicose: see rebel
- bellicose (adj.)
- early 15c., "warlike," from Latin bellicosus "warlike, valorous, given to fighting," from bellicus "of war," from bellum "war," Old Latin duellum, dvellum, which is of uncertain origin.
Example
- 1. Tehran has responded by turning up the bellicose rhetoric .
- 2. But elsewhere he has repeatedly taken a more bellicose line .
- 3. North korea has struck an unusually bellicose stance with its rich southern neighbour recently .
- 4. Beijing seems to have pulled back from that bellicose brink .
- 5. But studies of world war ii veterans suggest that very few men are innately bellicose .