TRIGGER-HAPPY Synonyms: 118 Similar and Opposite Words

trigger-happy

adjective

Definition of trigger-happy

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 We should be asked how our youth retain the impulse to be free when trigger-happy Israeli soldiers and snipers are ordered to kill unarmed children demanding their human rights. — Literary Hub, 11 Feb. 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 The Iranian government has long maintained a rather trigger-happy approach to censorship, to put it mildly. — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 28 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for trigger-happy

Recent Examples of Synonyms for trigger-happy

Adjective

However, his team describes Fred as a tyrant, who is uncaring and belligerent and micro-manages everything.

— Mary Crossan, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
Per the title, Aang is the last surviving airbender after his pacifist brethren were slaughtered by a belligerent, expansionist Fire Nation.

— Alison Herman, Variety, 24 July 2026

Definition of belligerent

Adjective

Though less overtly pugnacious than the other main far-right cabinet member, Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, with whom he is often compared, Smotrich has used his time in office to ramp up settlement building.

— Reuters, NBC news, 7 Aug. 2026
Indeed, his rising profile as a pugnacious public commentator has arguably exceeded his influence on Wall Street.

— Jeff John Roberts, Fortune, 20 July 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

As Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's politics have evolved — from combative outsider to pragmatic establishment leader — so, too, has her fashion sensibility.

— ABC News, ABC News, 13 Aug. 2026
Now Brattin, a former chairman of the Missouri Freedom Caucus, could become the third member from the combative conservative caucuses to reach Capitol Hill.

— Jack Harvel August 12, Kansas City Star, 12 Aug. 2026

Definition of combative

Adjective

Macron says fires are warlike crisis for France Out-of-control wildfires represent France’s greatest crisis since World War II, President Emmanuel Macron said.

— Mohammed Sergie, semafor.com, 29 July 2026
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

Definition of warlike

Adjective

His preference for a 4-2-3-1 has been evident, however, and the German is looking for Newcastle to be aggressive in the press, intensive and also direct, with a plan to get the ball forward as quickly as possible.

— Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
Throughout his scuffles, however, Boone felt Grisham had gotten more aggressive inside the strike zone.

— Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 13 Aug. 2026

Definition of aggressive

Adjective

Released foreign prisoners, mainly Syrian Islamist militant prisoners, would be transferred to Lebanon’s General Security intelligence agency that is responsible for enforcing immigration laws.

— ABC News, ABC News, 12 Aug. 2026
Trump had said Israeli forces would withdraw as the Hamas militant group’s disarmament is completed.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2026

Definition of militant

Adjective

Gradually, though, dubby hand percussion rises up from the deep, and soon a truculent, alien-sounding riff and loping dancehall cadence spin the compass point back toward Batu’s Bristol.

— Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 6 July 2026
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

Definition of truculent

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triggered

trigger-happy

triggering

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“Trigger-happy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trigger-happy. Accessed 16 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of trigger-happy

adjective

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