Did you know?

This interesting word "belligerent" goes back to 1577. It's a modification of Latin belligerant-, belligerans, present participle of belligerare to wage war, from belliger waging war, from bellum + gerere to wage.

1 : waging war; specifically : belonging to or recognized as a state at war and protected by and subject to the laws of war

2 : inclined to or exhibiting assertiveness, hostility, or combativeness

Some synonyms are:

bellicose
pugnacious
quarrelsome
contentious

BELLIGERENT implies being actually at war or engaged in hostilities (belligerent nations).

BELLICOSE suggests a disposition to fight (a drunken man in a bellicose mood).

PUGNACIOUS suggests a disposition that takes pleasure in personal combat (a pugnacious hooligan).

QUARRELSOME stresses an ill-natured readiness to fight without good cause (the heat made us all quarrelsome).

CONTENTIOUS implies perverse and irritating fondness for arguing and quarreling (we were irritated by his contentious disposition).

(adapted from Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary)


Note: If you see the term "non-belligerent" in the newspapers you'll know the meaning: "nicht kriegführend"