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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

pug·na·cious

Audio Help [puhg-ney-shuh

s] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

inclined to quarrel or fight readily; quarrelsome; belligerent; combative.

[Origin: 1635–45; pugnaci(ty) (< L pugnācitās combativeness, equiv. to pugnāci-, s. of pugnāx combative (akin to pugil; see pugilism) + -tās -ty²) + -ous

]

—Related forms

pug·na·cious·ly, adverb

pug·nac·i·ty

Audio Help [puhg-nas-i-tee] Pronunciation Key, pug·na·cious·ness, noun

—Synonyms argumentative, contentious, bellicose.

—Antonyms agreeable.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
pugnacious

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

pug·na·cious Audio Help (pŭg-nā'shəs) Pronunciation Key
adj. Combative in nature; belligerent. See Synonyms at belligerent.

[From Latin pugnāx, pugnāc-, from pugnāre, to fight, from pugnus, fist; see peuk- in Indo-European roots.]

pug·na'cious·ly adv., pug·na'cious·ness, pug·nac'i·ty (-nās'ĭ-tē) n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
pugnacious

1642, from L. pugnacis, gen. of pugnax "combative," from pugnare "to fight," from pugnus "fist," from PIE base *peug- "to stick, stab" (cf. Gk. pyx "with clenched fist," pygme "fist, boxing," pyktes "boxer;" L. pungere "to pierce, prick").

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

pugnacious
adjective
1.	tough and callous by virtue of experience [syn: hard-bitten]
2.	ready and able to resort to force or violence; "pugnacious spirits...lamented that there was so little prospect of an exhilarating disturbance"- Herman Melville; "they were rough and determined fighting men"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Pugnacious

Fist\, n. [OE. fist, fust, AS. f?st; akin to D. vuist, OHG. f?st, G. faust, and prob. to L. pugnus, Gr. ? fist, ? with the fist. Cf. Pugnacious, Pigmy.]

1. The hand with the fingers doubled into the palm; the closed hand, especially as clinched tightly for the purpose of striking a blow.

Who grasp the earth and heaven with my fist. --Herbert.

2. The talons of a bird of prey. [Obs.]

More light than culver in the falcon's fist. --Spenser.

3. (print.) the index mark [[hand]], used to direct special attention to the passage which follows.

Hand over fist (Naut.), rapidly; hand over hand.

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