trigger-happy

adjective

Definition of trigger-happynext
as in belligerent

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of trigger-happy Torched by the Warriors from 3-point range last Sunday, Denver limited the trigger-happy Celtics to a 12-for-43 clip downtown. — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 26 Feb. 2026 Executive Director Nadav Weiman, a veteran who served in Gaza but not in this war, said distance from the target and some trigger-happy soldiers can be problematic. — Sam Mednick, Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2026 The fifth pick in the 2025 draft has shown flashes as a scorer and pull-up shooter and has surprised many with his ability to make quick-decision passes, something that wasn’t exactly a feature of his game in his one trigger-happy season at Rutgers. — John Hollinger, New York Times, 3 Feb. 2026 Muasher, the former Jordanian foreign minister, argued that the strategic difficulty of defeating and replacing the Iranian regime may prove too confounding for a trigger-happy White House that seems more invested in the spectacle of victory than in the complex project of building peace. — Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for trigger-happy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for trigger-happy
  1. belligerent
  2. pugnacious
  3. bellicose
  4. combative
  5. warlike
  6. aggressive
  7. militant
  8. truculent
Adjective
  • America, the world’s oldest, continuous, modern democracy, will soon celebrate its 250th birthday—mired in conflict and piloted by a belligerent and mercurial nationalist.
    — Dominic Erdozain, Time, 3 July 2026
  • The pseudonymous title character, a depressed, drunken, belligerent twenty-six-year-old advice columnist, has no real hardships of his own and is cursed by doubt.
    — Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 1 July 2026
Definition of belligerent
Adjective
  • Vance, who privately voiced his concerns about conflict with Iran in the lead-up to the war, is pugnacious and transactional.
    — Vivian Salama, The Atlantic, 27 June 2026
  • That stretch included a famously pugnacious friendly with Australia in which Pochettino challenged his players at halftime to raise their level of competitiveness.
    — Greg Beacham, Chicago Tribune, 25 June 2026
Definition of pugnacious
Adjective
  • At least, that’s what the bellicose rhetoric from Tehran suggests.
    — Ariel Cohen, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
  • At National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, a controversial but popular Russian studies program introduced last fall has nothing to do with the glories of imperial Russia and everything to do with the thinking and motivations of the bellicose power next door.
    — Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor, 27 June 2026
Definition of bellicose
Adjective
  • The release says a 29-year-old man became combative with first responders, and a paramedic shot him.
    — Rafael Escalera Montoto, Arkansas Online, 2 July 2026
  • Too good to be a benchwarmer, in a starting line-up, the Brazilian’s all-action qualities may align best with Rice to give Arsenal another combative and forward-thinking option in their engine room.
    — Mark Carey, New York Times, 26 June 2026
Definition of combative
Adjective
  • The poem that precedes it, the Iliad, is a cruel and beautiful work, the ultimate story of war; the Odyssey has its warlike passages, but its central energies seem almost commonplace beside the merciless fury of Achilles.
    — David Denby, New Yorker, 21 June 2026
  • One of the world’s most cooperative mammals is also one of its most warlike.
    — Big Think, Big Think, 8 May 2026
Definition of warlike
Adjective
  • The goal is gentle smoke and indirect heat rather than aggressive flames.
    — Staff, FOXNews.com, 3 July 2026
  • Right now, the multi-trillion-dollar global apparel industry is undergoing an aggressive technological shift, adopting artificial intelligence as a production standard rather than an experimental pilot.
    — Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 2 July 2026
Definition of aggressive
Adjective
  • Yet Piker himself has followed the DSA’s militant line, repeatedly praising authoritarian regimes such as China’s, Cuba’s, and Russia’s, as well as terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
    — Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 1 July 2026
  • There are also concerns that fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon could escalate once more and derail future talks.
    — Tiago Ventura, Time, 30 June 2026
Definition of militant
Adjective
  • Darren McCarty, a truculent member of the Red Wings who had multiple fights with Lemieux, posted a broken heart emoji on social media and heard the news from Draper.
    — Stephen Whyno, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2026
  • The pushback is largely coming from Democrats and illustrates the challenges Musk’s collection of companies are receiving as the famously impulsive and truculent multi-billionaire has turned himself into a political lightning rod.
    — Jessica Mathews, Fortune, 1 Apr. 2026
Definition of truculent

Browse Nearby Words

triggered
trigger-happy
triggering
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Cite this Entry

“Trigger-happy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trigger-happy. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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