belligerently

English

Etymology

belligerent +‎ -ly

Adverb

belligerently (comparative more belligerently, superlative most belligerently)

1. In a belligerent manner; with aggressive hostility.
   • 1896, Stephen Crane, chapter 11, in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets‎^[1], New York: Appleton, pages 88–89:

     They swaggered unsteadily but belligerently toward the bar and looked at Pete with bleared and blinking eyes.

   • 1939, John Steinbeck, chapter 26, in The Grapes of Wrath‎^[2], New York: Viking, published 1962, page 512:

     “How’d you get a job like this?” she asked.
     “A fella got to eat,” he began; and then, belligerently, “A fella got a right to eat.”

   • 1989, John Irving, chapter 7, in A Prayer for Owen Meany‎^[3], New York: William Morrow, page 338:

     In truth, Mrs. Lish’s charge of anti-Semitism had backfired with a number of the faculty, who were quite belligerently anti-Semitic themselves.