Definition
Pugnacious is an adjective that describes a person who is inclined to fight, quarrel or argue. It can also refer to a person, animal or thing that is eager or quick to attack or quarrel.
Pronunciation
US English
UK English
See Synonyms, Antonyms and Usage
Excerpts from News Articles
1
The ex-president’s pugnacious tone has only accelerated in recent days with a series of critical posts about New York state supreme court justice Juan Merchan, to whom the case has apparently been allotted after he presided over a separate matter involving the Trump Organization last year.
2
Cruz developed a reputation as a pugnacious partisan in his first year when he spurred a 17-day government shutdown in 2013 that many Republicans wanted to avoid and which failed to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Three years later, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., memorably quipped that someone could kill Cruz on the Senate floor and no senator would vote to convict them.
3
In contrast with Bolsonaro’s pugnacious isolationism, Lula has long sought to expand Brazil’s role on the world stage. He argues that Brazil, home to more people than U.N. Security Council permanent members Russia, Britain and France, should be granted membership in that elite club.
4
They are polite house guests. Unlike the boisterous and pugnacious brushtails, ringtails tend to keep to themselves.
5
A former Kansas congressman, Pompeo developed a reputation as one of Trump's most loyal lieutenants when he served as secretary of state and director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He advanced Trump's pugnacious foreign policy as the top U.S. diplomat and was a magnet for controversy in Washington.
6
Into her second mandate, Vestager took a step backstage. Gone was the theater of grandiose competition cases, the glossy magazine covers and the Viking caricatures. The focus turned to preventative rather than curative interventions. New regulations targeting foreign subsidies and Big Tech — the Digital Markets Act — came in. Vestager, the pugnacious trustbuster, was relegated to a less prominent role.
7
As the fuss grew over the Sunak advert last week, a loyalty test was applied to Labour figures: who would share the controversial claim on social media? Steve Reed, Labour’s pugnacious justice spokesman, did so with glee, publishing it multiple times. Others did so only once. But of the 31 members of the shadow cabinet, 13 did not share any of the first three attack adverts. Some MPs privately complained to the Labour leader. Starmer, never the most natural broadcaster, is yet to defend the advert in person.
8
Before now, he hadn’t questioned the limits of free speech much over his four-decade career in law enforcement. The registered Independent and fan of vulgar language had twice voted for Donald Trump, thinking, “He’s pugnacious . I’m pugnacious .” During one budgetary standoff with county officials, Chitwood had called Volusia’s top manager a “lying sack of s---.”
9
In recent days, another pugnacious Fox News host, Dan Bongino, parted ways with the channel. He said on his podcast on Thursday that “there’s no acrimony … we just couldn’t come to terms on an extension.” But the channel may have felt a new level of anxiety about retaining the host of a show called “Unfiltered.”
10
Christie, meanwhile, says he’s fully prepared — after prosecuting dozens of corrupt local officials as a U.S. attorney, battling public employee unions and fending off multiple investigations as governor, mounting a pugnacious presidential campaign and enduring a famously complicated relationship with the Trump family — for the rough and tumble should he get in the race.
11
A former Justice Department inspector general, Bromwich has garnered a reputation as a pugnacious defender. His message to congressional Republicans on Wednesday suggests he will deploy a similar strategy.
12
But the promise of a pugnacious domestic conservative who had the capacity to act in bipartisan ways seemed to make him the perfect heir to President George W. Bush. New Jersey was his Texas, a proving ground for what he could do in the Oval Office.
13
Members of Congress delivered more pugnacious speeches at the end of the day, which appeared to stun their opponents into silence—sometimes because nearly everyone had gone home, a fact that the cameras didn’t reveal.
14
The 80-year-old, who this week announced a bid for re-election in 2024, flipped between a pugnacious defence of press freedom and crisp one-liners at the expense of political opponents as he addressed the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner.