Truculent
adj ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Cruel or savage.
"The truculent soldiers gave us a steely-eyed stare."
- 2 Defiant or uncompromising.
"In her turn, Helen Burns asked me to explain, and I proceeded forthwith to pour out, in my own way, the tale of my sufferings and resentments. Bitter and truculent when excited, I spoke as I felt, without reserve or softening."
- 3 Eager or quick to argue, fight or start a conflict.
"She might pity herself, but he must not pity her. She did not want any quarrel; she blamed him for wanting one, but she could not help assuming a truculent attitude."
- 4 Violent; rude; scathing; savage; harsh.
"Voltaire is never either gross or truculent."
- 5 Destructive; deadly. obsolete, rare
"More or less truculent Plagues."
- 1 defiantly aggressive wordnet
Example
More examples"Tim's truculent nature has made Lisa hesitant to say anything critical to him, for fear that it will cause a fight."
Etymology
First attested circa 1540, from Middle French, from Latin truculentus (“fierce, savage”), from trux (“fierce, wild”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.