pugnacity

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I am not persuaded by this criticism—the idea that Jaffa’s famous pugnacity arose from his Straussian ideas rather than his personality strikes me as tendentious.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 2, 2025

But in between docility and pugnacity lies the pathway to effective debate moderation, and I thought Muir and Davis did a fine job walking that road on Tuesday night.

From Slate • Sep. 11, 2024

Along the way, she showed flashes of the humor and pugnacity that have made her one of squash’s more forceful personalities.

From New York Times • May 4, 2022

No one loved to use Harry M. Reid’s past as an amateur middleweight as a metaphor for his political pugnacity more than Mr. Reid himself.

From Washington Post • Dec. 29, 2021

Huxley delivers lectures to the working men of Southwark; Carpenter undertook Sunday evening discourses in Bloomsbury; Tyndall, with all the pugnacity of his country, is ready for a controversy anywhere.

From Modern Leaders: Being a Series of Biographical Sketches by McCarthy, Justin