Word.ws English Dictionary

pugnaciously

pugnaciously adverb: in an aggressive or combative manner.

Adverb

pugnaciously (comparative more pugnaciously, superlative most pugnaciously)

  1. In an aggressive or combative manner.
    • Moreover, in using it he waggled his scalp at her in a way that made his crest of hair bristle up pugnaciously, as if proposing combat with her on the spot.1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 62

Forms of pugnaciously

comparativemore pugnaciously
superlativemost pugnaciously

Origin of pugnaciously

From pugnacious + -ly. Attested since the early 19th century.

Questions about pugnaciously

What does pugnaciously mean?
Pugnaciously means in an aggressive or combative manner.
What part of speech is pugnaciously?
Pugnaciously is an adverb.

Words near pugnaciously in the dictionary

  1. pugmill
  2. pugmills
  3. Pugmire
  4. Pugmires
  5. pugnacious
  6. pugnaciously
  7. pugnaciousness
  8. pugnacities
  9. pugnacity
  10. pugnatious
  11. pugne

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pugnaciously (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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