truculency


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truc·u·lent

 (trŭk′yə-lənt)
adj.
1. Disposed or eager to fight or engage in hostile opposition; belligerent.
2. Showing or expressing bitter opposition or hostility; aggressively defiant: a truculent speech against the new government; a truculent glance.
3. Disposed to violence; ferocious or cruel.

[Latin truculentus, from trux, truc-, fierce; see terə- in Indo-European roots.]

truc′u·lence (trŭk′yə-ləns), truc′u·len·cy (-lən-sē) n.
truc′u·lent·ly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.truculency - obstreperous and defiant aggressivenesstruculency - obstreperous and defiant aggressiveness
pugnacity, belligerence, aggressiveness - a natural disposition to be hostile
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

truculency

noun
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
References in classic literature ?
With the customary infirmity of temper that characterizes this unhappy fowl, she appears by the fierceness of her beak and eye, and the general truculency of her attitude, to threaten mischief to the inoffensive community; and especially to warn all citizens careful of their safety against intruding on the premises which she overshadows with her wings.
The reason I thought it appropriate to respond as I did was that Mr Lewis informed us that, at the time of this particular moment of truculency, he was a pupil at an English boarding school, benefiting from a privileged, private education.