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belligerent

bel·li·ger·ent

Australia, UK/bəˈlɪdʒ.ə.ɹənt/Australia, UK[bəˈlɪdʒ.ə.ɹənt] ~ [bəˈlɪdʒ.ə.ɹn̩t]US/bəˈlɪd͡ʒ.ɚ.ənt/US[bəˈlɪd͡ʒ.ɚ.ənt] ~ [bəˈlɪd͡ʒ.ɹ̩.n̩t]

adjective

What it means

  1. Engaged in warfare, warring.
  2. Eager to go to war, warlike.
  3. Of or pertaining to war.

In a sentence

And I think the facts are that Beijing is a belligerent bully jealous and envious of what Taiwan has accomplished- mainland China- that's what I get out of all of this.

1999 August 5, Jesse Helms, quotee, 1:27 from the start, in USA: CHINA/TAIWAN TENSIONS MOUNTING, Associated Press, archived from the original on 31 Jan 2026

Where it comes from

  1. Latinbelligerans“waging war”
  2. Englishbelligerent

From Latin belligerans (“waging war”), present active participle of belligerō (“to wage war”), from belliger (“waging war, warlike”), from bellum (“war”) + -ger (from gerō (“to lead, wage, carry on”)).

Full entry for belligerent →

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