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Don't War Over the Meaning of Bellicose
Since bellicose describes an attitude that hopes for actual war, the word is generally applied to nations and their leaders. In the 20th century, it was commonly used to describe such figures as Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm, Italy's Benito Mussolini, and Japan's General Tojo, leaders who believed their countries had everything to gain by starting wars. The international relations of a nation with a bellicose foreign policy tend to be stormy and difficult, and bellicosity usually makes the rest of the world very uneasy.
Examples of bellicose in a Sentence
New Yorker, 24 June 1985
For three centuries Viking raiders haunted western Europe. The bellicose Charlemagne himself felt menaced.
—Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers, 1983
His evident calm, which always infuriated the opposition, must have irritated the bellicose colonel to a point at which he could control himself no longer.
—Michael Pearson, Those Damned Rebels, 1972
bellicose hockey players who seem to spend more time fighting than playing
Grrlscientist, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
Consider the People's Liberation Army's increasingly bellicose military and exercises in the Taiwan Strait.
—Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Apr. 2025
The city’s residents tired of D’Annunzio’s reckless rule, and his bellicose posturing and expansionist maneuvers discomfited the Italian monarchy.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2025
Majdi Fathi / NurPhoto / Getty Images Israel’s defense minister issued a bellicose statement, threatening that the military would once again begin evacuating civilians from combat zones.
—Matt Bradley, NBC News, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bellicose
Cite this Entry
“Bellicose.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bellicose. Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.
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