bellicist

B3E1L1L1I1C3I1S1T1

noun

An adherent of bellicism; one who advocates war.

“The bellicist was sure to advocate an end to the policy of appeasement.”

Opposite
Scrabble 13

Meanings

nounbellicist (plural bellicists)

plural bellicists

  1. An adherent of bellicism; one who advocates war.

    The bellicist was sure to advocate an end to the policy of appeasement.

    4 more examples

    Or, if you deem that that word connotes non-resistance, though to the immense bulk of Pacifists it does not, you would be an anti-Bellicist, to use a dreadful word coined by M. Emile Faguet in the discussion of this matter. [Refers to the book: Émile Faguet, Le Pacifisme (French), 1908.]

    1912, Norman Angell, Peace Theories and the Balkan War, page 19

    As for what are called ‘war books,’ whether written from the pacifist or bellicist point of view, more or less brilliant reporting with emphatic or cynical anecdotes, surely there has been enough of them in the United States as well as in France and in England.

    1919, The Living Age, vol. 303, Oct-Dec 1919, page 173

    It may be that this standard definition errs, in representing every state structure as essentially based on conflict: it involves, as the writer pointed out in an address delivered long ago in 1915, a “bellicist theory of state structure.” […] It may be well, therefore, to discard the “bellicist” idea of a state essentially based on conflict and involving a superior body which forcibly imposes its will on the mass. [Refers to the paper: Dr. Thomas Baty, "The Bellicist Theory of State Structure", 1915.]

    1942, Contemporary Japan: A Review of Far Eastern Affairs, vol. 11, No. 1, Jan 1942, page 220-221

    British historian Michael Howard introduced the term bellicist to refer to cultures “almost universal in the past, far from extinct in our own day, in which the setting of contentious issues by armed conflict is regarded as natural, inevitable and right.”

    2008, David P. Barash, Charles P. Webel, Peace and Conflict Studies, page 31

    Synonyms: hawk, militarist, warmonger, warnik

adjectivebellicist (comparative more bellicist, superlative most bellicist)

comparative more bellicist · superlative most bellicist

  1. Of or relating to bellicism, a bellicist, bellicists, advocating war, who is war-centered or war-oriented.

    Synonyms: bellicistic, bellicose, hawkish, militaristic, warhungry

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAn adherent of bellicism; one who advocates war.

adjectiveOf or relating to bellicism, a bellicist, bellicists, advocating war, who is war-centered or war-oriented.

Opposite
anti-bellicistdovepacifistpeacenik

Origin

  1. Latinbellicus“of or pertaining to war; warlike”
  2. Englishbellicist

From Latin bellicus (“of or pertaining to war; warlike”), + -ist; possibly adapted from the French neologism belliciste (about Bismarck, 1871; in Émile Faguet, 1908).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

French belliciste
  • bellicisteof or relating to bellicism, bellicists
German bellizistisch, kriegstreiberisch
  • bellizistischof or relating to bellicism, bellicists
  • kriegstreiberischof or relating to bellicism, bellicists
Polish wojowniczy
  • wojowniczyof or relating to bellicism, bellicists
Portuguese belicista
  • belicistaof or relating to bellicism, bellicists
Cite this entry
APA

bellicist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bellicist

MLA

“bellicist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bellicist. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bellicist,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bellicist.

Source: bellicist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.