pugnacity :

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pugnacity


  • n  a natural disposition to be hostile

  • His ancestors were Hakka, the Chinese tribesmen who migrated from northern China to Fujian and have a reputation for pugnacity and clannishness.
  • To many Iranians, Ahmadinejad's strategy of confrontation and refusal to compromise reflects the regime's unease as much as its pugnacity.
  • McCain hasn't always sided with the neocons he opposed torture, wants to close down Guantnamo but his pugnacity seems a natural fit with theirs.
Quotes

  • Brian Burke in Toronto Star
    Burke spoke of constructing teams around "pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence," but also preached patience.
  • Philip Roth in Jerusalem Post
    I should like to tell Uris that Wiesel's Jew is not so proud to discover himself in the role of a fighter,Roth wrote, "nor is he able to find justification for himself in some traditional Jewish association with pugnacity or...

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