How to Use belligerent in a Sentence

belligerent

adjective
  • He was drunk and belligerent.
  • Trump did fine with a base that loves a belligerent approach.
    — Joe Garofoli, SFChronicle.com, 22 Oct. 2020
  • All due to a belligerent tug of war over a car valued at less than a grand.
    — Danny Westneat, The Seattle Times, 17 Oct. 2018
  • So this worry, this belligerent kind of love, knows its way around.
    — Sloane Crosley, The New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2024
  • The voice might be drunk, or belligerent, or hostile, or afraid of the dark.
    — Literary Hub, 18 Feb. 2026
  • None of this is news to nervous fans whose calls for a trade grow more belligerent by the day.
    — Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 28 June 2024
  • The belligerent passenger was not the first to be taped to his seat.
    — New York Times, 18 Aug. 2021
  • The talk from the powers that be is much more belligerent and hostile.
    — Obed Manuel, Dallas News, 4 Aug. 2019
  • The customer became belligerent and was asked by staff to leave.
    — Brian L. Cox, chicagotribune.com, 2 Nov. 2019
  • Police have even been called to help deal with belligerent customers.
    — From Usa Today Network and Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 8 July 2021
  • She was warned several times about it and became belligerent when asked to leave.
    — cleveland, 6 May 2021
  • Those remarks stood in contrast to many of his tweets, which were more belligerent in nature.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 1 June 2020
  • Athens was a belligerent city-state that fell victim to its own aggressions.
    — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 15 June 2026
  • The chapter has grabbed headlines for belligerent protests at school board meetings.
    — Evan McMorris-Santoro and Meridith Edwards, CNN, 29 Sep. 2021
  • His was an innings of belligerent brilliance.
    — Tim Spiers, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2026
  • And please stop acting like belligerent children.
    — John Moorlach, Oc Register, 14 Jan. 2026
  • One of the men got upset and became belligerent, screaming at the bouncer.
    — Julie A. Short, cleveland.com, 29 June 2017
  • Rude, offensive and belligerent customers are the bane of any front-line team member.
    — Dan Pontefract, Forbes, 22 Jan. 2022
  • But the continent may still be unprepared for a more belligerent world.
    — Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 26 Nov. 2025
  • But the continent may still be unprepared for a more belligerent world.
    — Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 27 Nov. 2025
  • And then Brad gets shocked and belligerent because Tai got swayed by somebody else and let him down?
    — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 May 2017
  • This Mary is horny, drunk, and completely belligerent about her dream of being a cabaret star.
    — Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 2 Sep. 2025
  • There’s a kind of belligerent independence that’s sort of rattling around in there.
    — Ben Flanagan | [email protected], al, 22 Apr. 2021
  • The terrible bind that the belligerent and paranoid leaders of the past have placed us in is striking.
    — Andre Pagliarini, The New Republic, 16 Apr. 2021
  • If a recruit is belligerent or unmotivated, there are by-the-book ways to get him out.
    — Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press, 17 Aug. 2017
  • As is often the case with historical events, neither belligerent had much claim to the moral high ground.
    — Max Hastings, WSJ, 4 Oct. 2018
  • Social deficits can manifest as belligerent or meek.
    — Tao Lin, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
  • Gone are the belligerent threats and photos with huge missiles of 2017.
    — Anna Fifield, Washington Post, 26 Apr. 2018
  • Everyone seemed white, and every man other than the fathers and the very old seemed belligerent.
    — Michael Thomas, New Yorker, 19 July 2025
  • But on the way there, the captain said, Bryan became belligerent and demanded to be let out of the car.
    — Thomas Curwen, latimes.com, 13 June 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'belligerent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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