Words / B / General

bellicose

adjective/ˈbɛlɪkəʊs/

C2CEFR level
75/100Rarity: rare
FormalRegister

Inclined or eager to wage war or start quarrels.

The general's bellicose rhetoric alarmed diplomats who were still hoping for a negotiated settlement.

Similar: warlike, pugnacious, hostile

Origin: From Latin bellicosus, from bellum 'war'.

Topic: aggression in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: aggression