belligerent
2
8.1
- noun
- /bəˈlɪdʒərənt/
:
beligerante
- The crisis of governance in the DRC has degenerated into a more convoluted and complex security dilemma for the belligerents engaged in military conflict.
- lawful belligerents
- two belligerents
Examples
-
Both belligerents continued to receive arms shipments until 24 December 1935.
Academic text (1995) -
Why did the negotiations between the military and rebel belligerents, long mutually hostile in ideological and political terms, conclude successfully?
Academic text (2000) -
And so the the belligerent in question was a group called the Northern Alliance.
-
The war did not end because the belligerents found common ground.
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It was simply that Spain was not a belligerent in the First World War and therefore was free of censorship of the media.
-
Their homeland was divided among three of the belligerents, for which few Polish Americans had any love.
Academic text (1991) -
Fourth, lawful belligerents must conduct their actions in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
Academic text (1991) -
A UN-brokered cease-fire entered into effect between the two belligerents, Morocco and the Polisario Front, on 6 September 1991.
Academic text (1991) -
In essence, Congolese territory has become the central arena for settling brutal military conflicts among the belligerents and competing stakeholders within the region.
Academic text (2002) -
The negotiations failed because neither of the belligerents was willing to compromise.
Synonyms
682
2.8
A person who fights for a cause or as a job
93
8.6
A person who fights against the government, often as part of a small armed group
61
5.6
A person who takes part in fighting, often a soldier in a war
53
4.9
A person, group, or country that starts a fight
28
8.6
An enemy soldier
4
6.0
A person who fights in a battle or keeps fighting through hard times
Antonyms
How Warlike
Surface Forms
Morphology
belligerent = belliger + ent
The element 'belliger' is not a standalone English word and the adjectival/nominative formation comes from a Latin borrowing, so learners cannot reliably derive the noun meaning from familiar English parts.
Etymology
Belligerent comes from the Latin words bellum 'war' and gerere 'to carry' or 'to wage'. So a belligerent (or the plural 'belligerents') is literally 'one who wages war'—a person, group, or nation fighting in a conflict.