Truculent

Pronunciation

• enPR: \trÅ­k'-yÉ™-lÉ™nt\, IPA: /ˈtrÊŒkjÊŠlÉ™nt/

Origin

First attested circa 1540, from Latin truculentus ("fierce, savage"), from trux ("fierce, wild").

Full definition of truculent

Adjective

1. cruel or savageWhen we were touring on a riverboat near Dandong, the truculent North Korean soldiers from the other side of the river gave us a steely-eyed death stare.
2. Deadly or destructive.
3. Defiant or uncompromising.
4. Eager or quick to argue, fight or start a conflict.
• 1992, Joel Feinberg, “The Social Importance of Moral Rights” in Philosophical Perspectives VI (Ethics, 1992), page 195:It is an important source of the value of moral rights then that — speaking very generally — they dispose people with opposed interests to be reasonable rather than arrogant and truculent.
• 2010, Seal Team 6 Member, in Esquire Magazine "The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden..."http://www.esquire.com/features/man-who-shot-osama-bin-laden-0313?src=rss(Refering to women in Bin Laden's compound) "These bitches is getting truculent".

Synonyms

• (cruel or savage): barbarous, cruel, ferocious, fierce, savage
• (deadly or destructive): deadly, destructive
• (defiant or uncompromising): defiant, inflexible, stubborn, uncompromising, unyielding
• (Eager or quick to argue, fight or start a conflict) belligerent

Related terms

• truculence
• truculency
• truculently

Anagrams

• unclutter