A.Word.A.Day --pugnacious

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Today's Word

pugnacious

PRONUNCIATION:

(puhg-NAY-shuhs)

MEANING:

adjective: Having a quarrelsome nature; belligerent.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin pugnare (to fight), from pugnus (fist). Ultimately from the Indo-European root peuk- (to prick) which is also the source of point, puncture, pungent, punctual, poignant, pounce, poniard, oppugn, repugn, impugn, pugilist, and repugnant. Earliest documented use: 1642.

USAGE:

“Sean Hannity, the pugnacious Fox host whose tough-guy persona attracted a passionate right-wing audience.”
Julian E. Zelizer; Burning Down the House; Penguin; 2020.

See more usage examples of pugnacious in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Appealing to tribe, appealing to fear, pitting one group against another, telling people that order and security will be restored if it weren't for those who don't look like us or don't sound like us or don't pray like we do, that's an old playbook. It's as old as time. And in a healthy democracy it doesn't work. Our antibodies kick in, and people of goodwill from across the political spectrum call out the bigots and the fearmongers, and work to compromise and get things done and promote the better angels of our nature. -Barack Obama, 44th US President (b. 4 Aug 1961)

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