pugnacious C2 Topic:Crime & Justice US /pəgˈnæʃɪs/ UK /pʌɡˈneɪ.ʃəs/ See IPA manual Freq #93540 Meanings 1 adj ready and able to resort to force or violence The troops were well rested and quite pugnacious. 2 adj tough and callous by virtue of experience The laborers were pugnacious after years of hard work. 3 adj naturally aggressive, hostile or combative The general was pugnacious and it suited their work in wartime. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · ready and able to resort to... rough 2 adj · tough and callous by virtue... hard-bittenhard-boiled More bellicosecombative Word family Forms pugnaciously Related forms pugilismpugilistrepugnrepugnant Etymology From the stem of Latin pugnāx + -ous, from pugnō (“to fight”), from pugnus (“fist”). *pewǵ- Proto-Indo-European View etymology graph -> Topics Crime & Justice Word Formation & Derivatives External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # pugnacious **Type:** Word **Level:** C2 **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /pəgˈnæʃɪs/ **IPA (UK):** /pʌɡˈneɪ.ʃəs/ **Frequency rank:** 93540 ## Meanings 1. ready and able to resort to force or violence 2. tough and callous by virtue of experience 3. naturally aggressive, hostile or combative ## Examples - The troops were well rested and quite pugnacious. - The laborers were pugnacious after years of hard work. - The general was pugnacious and it suited their work in wartime. ## Synonyms - rough - hard-bitten - hard-boiled - bellicose - combative ## Related Forms - pugilism - pugilist - repugn - repugnant ## Roots and Affixes - Root: *pewǵ- ## Etymology From the stem of Latin pugnāx + -ous, from pugnō (“to fight”), from pugnus (“fist”). ## Topics - Crime & Justice - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown