pugnacious
pronunciation
How to pronounce pugnacious in British English:
UK [pʌgˈneɪʃəs]
How to pronounce pugnacious in American English:
US [pʌɡˈneʃəs]
-
- Adjective:
- tough and callous by virtue of experience
- ready and able to resort to force or violence
Word Origin
- pugnacious
- pugnacious: [17] Latin pugnus meant ‘fist’ (it may have been related to Greek pugmé ‘fist’, source of English pygmy). From it was derived the verb pugnāre ‘hit with the fist’, hence ‘fight’, which has given English impugn [14], repugnant [14], and, via the further derivative pugnāx ‘fond of fighting’, pugnacious.=> impugn, repugnant
- pugnacious (adj.)
- 1640s, a back-formation from pugnacity or else from Latin pugnacis, genitive of pugnax "combative, fond of fighting," from pugnare "to fight," especially with the fists, "contend against," from pugnus "a fist," from PIE *pung-, nasalized form of root *peuk-, *peug- "to stick, stab, to prick" (cognates: Greek pyx "with clenched fist," pygme "fist, boxing," pyktes "boxer;" Latin pungere "to pierce, prick").
Example
- 1. Russia will get a new president ( probably ) , but the petulantly pugnacious vladimir putin has no intention of bidding farewell to power .
- 2. Egged on by the pugnacious london tabloids , the public voted to leave by a margin of 59 % to 41 % , and then handed the tories an absolute majority in the house of commons .
- 3. President george w. bush 's response to the assault on the twin towers and the pentagon was to launch two wars of choice against afghanistan and iraq , a pugnacious unilateralism at the expense of alliances and international law , and a near evangelical promotion of liberal democracy in the middle east .