Dictionary Entry
belligerence
Part of SpeechnounPronunciation/buh-LIJ-uh-rens/Word FrequencyUncommon (3.48)Curriculum FrequencyLess common (1)The state of being belligerent; aggressive inclination to war.
In a Sentence
“The country's belligerence during the negotiations made it hard to reach a peaceful agreement.”
Published Usage Examples
“Christopher Hitchens, whose belligerence is barely tolerable even though he's almost always right, covers the Iowa caucus scam ably in Slate:”
“That the chorus was often accompanied by belligerence is also noteworthy.”
This entry also appears in ReadingWillow Year 12 word lists, so students can move between the dictionary and year-level study sets.
Origin
From Latin bellum ‘war’ + gerere ‘to wage’.
Common Phrases
Related Words
Poetry examples for “belligerence”
Excerpts from the ReadingWillow English Library collection.
Poetry examples are still being gathered for this entry. They will appear here once matching poems are available in the library.
