Truculence

//ˈtrʌk.jə.ləns// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state of being truculent; eagerness to fight; ferocity. uncountable, usually

    "To these provincial autocrats, before whom the peaceable population of all classes had been accustomed to tremble, the reserve of that English-looking engineer caused an uneasiness which swung to and fro between cringing and truculence."

  2. 2
    obstreperous and defiant aggressiveness wordnet

Example

More examples

"To these provincial autocrats, before whom the peaceable population of all classes had been accustomed to tremble, the reserve of that English-looking engineer caused an uneasiness which swung to and fro between cringing and truculence."

Etymology

From French truculence, from Latin truculentia.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.