truculent

Definition

Cruel or savage.

Etymology

First attested circa 1540, from Middle French, from Latin truculentus (“fierce, savage”), from trux (“fierce, wild”).

Example Sentences

• "The truculent soldiers gave us a steely-eyed stare."
• "She really was a most charming girl, and might have passed for a captive fairy, whom that truculent Ogre, Old Barley, had pressed into his service."
• "His face was very truculent, grey and massive, with black cavernous nostrils and circled by a scanty white fur."

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