trigger-happy

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of trigger-happy With concern solidifying around Mexico’s role as a pipeline for Chinese products, the president-elect may have another reason to adopt a trigger-happy stance on duties—and a review of USMCA. Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 3 Sep. 2019 The screenplay even pays tribute to the island’s anti-fascist heritage with an elderly, trigger-happy partisan shooting from her balcony and singing Communist songs with the Mayor. Alissa Simon, Variety, 16 Aug. 2024 Dancing next to the procession of kids and the trigger-happy xylophone infant. Raven Smith, Vogue, 22 July 2024 On the other hand, post-Soviet Russia’s nuclear strategy seemed more trigger-happy than before. Olga Oliker, Foreign Affairs, 15 Oct. 2018 See All Example Sentences for trigger-happy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for trigger-happy
Adjective
  • The American military presence in Asia is seen by allies as a critical counterbalance in a fractious region where China has been rapidly expanding its military might and a belligerent North Korea has been empowered by closer ties with Russia.
    Brad Lendon, CNN Money, 2 Apr. 2025
  • Successful long ago, Shelley is no longer a selling Machine of any sort, and mostly just begs for a break in comically desperate appeals that ping-pong from belligerent to pathetic.
    Greg Evans, Deadline, 31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Official government accounts are now filled with right-wing memes, cinematic videos and pugnacious statements.
    Matt Brown, Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2025
  • His primary professional experience over the last decade has been picking fights and shaping narratives as a pugnacious media personality.
    Eric Cortellessa, TIME, 24 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • At the same time, Barnes was a crank of operatic grandiosity—thin-skinned, bellicose, distrustful, fickle, and vindictive.
    Susan Tallman, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2025
  • North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has accused the United States and South Korea of increasing tensions with their joint drills and Pyongyang often responds with bellicose threats.
    Yoonjung Seo, CNN, 6 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Small, combative players who can win second balls will do the job.
    Sam Lee, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
  • The moment was classic Fine, a politician who may be the Florida legislature’s brashest and most combative.
    Jeffrey Schweers, The Orlando Sentinel, 26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • The bottom line: Bipartisanship is the most obvious casualty of Schumer's new warlike posture toward the GOP.
    Hans Nichols, Axios, 21 Mar. 2025
  • Freyja, however, is a more warlike goddess, and even has a part in selecting warriors for her hall in the afterlife.
    Erik Kain, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • The two were very aggressive from the start of the fight, with a lot of output.
    Trent Reinsmith, Forbes.com, 5 Apr. 2025
  • There are also more aggressive interventions for people with severe allergies who don’t respond to other medicines like desensitization therapy, also known as allergy shots.
    Umair Irfan, Wired News, 5 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • From Myanmar comes the story of a student turned insurgent who joined a militant guerilla group set on overthrowing the country’s military junta.
    The Dial, The Dial, 1 Apr. 2025
  • Israel ended its ceasefire with the Hamas militant group and renewed its air and ground war last month.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 1 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Merz may have taken to heart a truculent speech Vance had given days earlier at the Munich Security Conference.
    Shane Harris, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2025
  • Giorgia’s leadership is threatened by increasingly truculent government allies, so Arianna is overseeing the backroom process of reverting their post-Fascist party to its more tribal roots.
    Mattia Ferraresi, airmail.news, 5 Oct. 2024

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Trigger-happy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trigger-happy. Accessed 10 Apr. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!