pugnacity
eagerness to fight or argue
Root
- pugn: fight
Other words with the pugn root
- impugn: to attack as false or wrong
- pugnacious: eager or quick to fight
- repugnant: extremely offensive, distasteful, or unacceptable
Pugnacity is fight-readiness as a trait: the person seems prepared to turn conversation into combat.
His pugnacity impressed nobody because every discussion became combat.
Pugnacity is not courage. Courage can fight when it must. Pugnacity seems eager for the fight itself.
The pugn root keeps the fist in the word. The exam meaning often lives in argument: a pugnacious person makes ordinary disagreement feel like a ring.