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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Belligerence

Belligerence \Bel*lig"er*ence\, Belligerency \Bel*lig"er*en*cy\, n. The quality of being belligerent.

2. the act or state of being engaged in war or a warlike conflict; warfare.

Syn: hostilities.

3. an aggressively hostile or warlike attitude or nature; a readiness to fight or offend, with little or no provocation.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
belligerence

1804; see belligerent + -ence. Related: belligerency. Middle English had belligeration "warfare."

Wiktionary
belligerence

n. a state of being belligerent

WordNet
belligerence
  1. n. hostile or warlike attitude or nature [syn: belligerency]

  2. a disposition to fight [syn: aggressiveness, contentiousness, pugnacity, quarrelsomeness]

Usage examples of "belligerence".

It need hardly be said that this version of anarchic belligerence did not recommend itself to the engineers and technologists of the Committee of Public Safety.

Plass introduced them to Majors Berman and Holtz, he watched for any sign of belligerence toward the couple.

Spoiled outrageously, Morgan, who had inherited the reckless Markland courage, all the arrogance and belligerence of the clan, had early demonstrated brash young scorn for many of the principles of honor, trustworthiness, generosity and forbearance that went with it.

What other results could have been expected when American society began to overvalue on the one hand security, censorship, an imagined world-saving idealism and self-sacrifice in war, and on the other hand insatiable hunger for possessions, fiercely competitive aggressiveness, sadistic male belligerence, contempt for parents and the state, and a fantastically overstimulated sexuality?

Where was that warmongering, saber-rattling American belligerence when you truly needed it?

A few people shouted obscenities and threats as they watched the trio walk by, but, for the most part, Baden sensed more curiosity than he did belligerence.

The vital force of the great goddess explained why they had grown to twice the size of domestic sheep, but not their belligerence.

It was always hard to read alien facial expressions, especially when the face in question featured a blunt muzzle, shoulder-wide whiskers, and a covering of soft, plushy fur, but Prescott sensed the exhausted belligerence behind that salute.

Follow Tomer's plans for use of our time with just enough belligerence to remind them we're fighter pilots.

And now here he was stuck on the coattails of an irascible and ungrateful Kha-gggun who had become the new Star-Admiral through nothing more mysterious than the sheer force of his belligerence and vindictive nature.

His studies had given him a manner of odd, quavering belligerence, as if he had found a new weapon.

Stonewall Jackson had served to deter Pope's belligerence for the best part of a month, but now the rebel army was once again united with Robert Lee at its head, and so the time had come to drive Pope back in utter defeat.

In grade school and, later, junior and senior high schools, I was often tardy or truant, drawn to the lowlife students, in part because they represented my own defiance and belligerence.