mindmap root((好斗)) belligerent implies being actively at war or engaged in hostilities: ~ nations respected the country’s neutrality. bellicose suggests a disposition to fight: an intoxicated person in a ~ mood. pugnacious suggests a disposition that takes pleasure in personal combat: a ~ student always getting into scraps. combative like pugnacious, connotes readiness to fight on the basis of a genuine cause: assumed a ~ stance under questioning. quarrelsome stresses an ill-natured readiness to fight without good cause: the stifling heat made us all ~. contentious implies perverse and irritating fondness for arguing and quarreling: wearied by her ~ disposition.