How to Use belligerent in a Sentence

belligerent

adjective
  • He was drunk and belligerent.
  • The belligerent passenger was not the first to be taped to his seat.
    New York Times, 18 Aug. 2021
  • The women are just as blotto and belligerent as the men.
    Washington Post, 13 June 2019
  • All due to a belligerent tug of war over a car valued at less than a grand.
    Danny Westneat, The Seattle Times, 17 Oct. 2018
  • None of this is news to nervous fans whose calls for a trade grow more belligerent by the day.
    Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 28 June 2024
  • In the film, Michelle Rodriguez plays a belligerent 18-year-old who fights...
    Don Steinberg, WSJ, 22 Dec. 2018
  • The talk from the powers that be is much more belligerent and hostile.
    Obed Manuel, Dallas News, 4 Aug. 2019
  • At full throat, the new RS5 sounds pissed off, with fat blats on upshifts and a belligerent growl not far off the old V-8’s.
    Jens Meiners, Car and Driver, 12 Sep. 2017
  • At full throat, the new RS5 sounds pissed off, with fat blats on upshifts and a belligerent growl not far off the old V-8’s.
    Erik Johnson, Car and Driver, 28 June 2017
  • He's been both friend and foe of the belligerent president.
    Laurie Kellman, Star Tribune, 11 Oct. 2020
  • Gone are the belligerent threats and photos with huge missiles of 2017.
    Anna Fifield, Washington Post, 26 Apr. 2018
  • Trump did fine with a base that loves a belligerent approach.
    Joe Garofoli, SFChronicle.com, 22 Oct. 2020
  • But on the way there, the captain said, Bryan became belligerent and demanded to be let out of the car.
    Thomas Curwen, latimes.com, 13 June 2018
  • By refusing to do so, Trump has made the United States a co-belligerent in the Yemen war.
    BostonGlobe.com, 5 Oct. 2019
  • The customer became belligerent and was asked by staff to leave.
    Brian L. Cox, chicagotribune.com, 2 Nov. 2019
  • The officer noticed that the man was drunk and belligerent.
    John Benson, cleveland.com, 3 July 2019
  • So this worry, this belligerent kind of love, knows its way around.
    Sloane Crosley, The New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2024
  • And then Brad gets shocked and belligerent because Tai got swayed by somebody else and let him down?
    Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 May 2017
  • The terrible bind that the belligerent and paranoid leaders of the past have placed us in is striking.
    Andre Pagliarini, The New Republic, 16 Apr. 2021
  • The North claims these drills are an invasion rehearsal and has linked them to its own weapons tests and drills and an uptick in belligerent rhetoric.
    Washington Post, 23 Feb. 2018
  • And at times of war, Turkey can bar the passage of the warships of belligerent parties from crossing.
    Isil Sariyuce and Arwa Damon, CNN, 28 Feb. 2022
  • Plus, if that’s not enough to deter you, the FAA has in the past levied six-figure fines against belligerent passengers.
    Olivia Morelli, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 July 2023
  • One of the men got upset and became belligerent, screaming at the bouncer.
    Julie A. Short, cleveland.com, 29 June 2017
  • There should be no Marshall Plan for Iran as long as the present regime continues on its belligerent track.
    A. J. Caschetta, National Review, 4 Apr. 2020
  • Those remarks stood in contrast to many of his tweets, which were more belligerent in nature.
    Anchorage Daily News, 1 June 2020
  • Police have even been called to help deal with belligerent customers.
    From Usa Today Network and Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 8 July 2021
  • The body of a belligerent woman is found among the Halloween decorations on the front yard of Miriam’s Coral Shores home.
    Sun Sentinel, 5 Oct. 2022
  • She was warned several times about it and became belligerent when asked to leave.
    cleveland, 6 May 2021
  • And the publics of each belligerent nation must be sustained in their hopes of winning, and such persuasion can come at great cost.
    Margaret MacMillan, Foreign Affairs, 12 June 2023
  • Israelis have long justified this belligerent philosophy by pointing to their position in a tough neighborhood.
    Aluf Benn, Foreign Affairs, 4 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'belligerent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: