as in aggressive
feeling or displaying eagerness to fight
channeling his naturally combative impulses into sports
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of combative
Musk’s sweeping cuts and combative style have been criticized as reckless and lacking in empathy.
—
Jonathan Easley, The Hill, 27 Mar. 2025
Graphic via The Athletic Worth Your Time Great business-adjacent reads for your downtime or commute:
What is the story with Knicks owner James Dolan and his constantly combative posture with the league?
—Dan Shanoff, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025
Things can be heightened about combative and wily AGIs by including the aspect of national borders and global geopolitics into the mix.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025
Small, combative players who can win second balls will do the job.
—Sam Lee, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for combative
Jonathan Easley, The Hill, 27 Mar. 2025
Graphic via The Athletic Worth Your Time Great business-adjacent reads for your downtime or commute:
What is the story with Knicks owner James Dolan and his constantly combative posture with the league?
—Dan Shanoff, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025
Things can be heightened about combative and wily AGIs by including the aspect of national borders and global geopolitics into the mix.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025
Small, combative players who can win second balls will do the job.
—Sam Lee, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for combative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for combative
Adjective
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There are also more aggressive interventions for people with severe allergies who don’t respond to other medicines like desensitization therapy, also known as allergy shots.—
Umair Irfan,
Wired News,
5 Apr. 2025
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The two were very aggressive from the start of the fight, with a lot of output.—
Trent Reinsmith,
Forbes.com,
5 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The group wrote to Bondi to argue that the influencer should be investigated over whether she has been paid to spread propaganda for Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in Gaza, it was first reported by the New York Post.—
Lauren Irwin,
The Hill,
8 Apr. 2025
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And in Lebanon, a series of Israeli attacks on the country have decapitated the militant group Hezbollah.—
Nadeen Ebrahim,
CNN Money,
8 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Andreas typically waits until there have been three instances of potential hostile communication before asking her friend or colleague if everything is OK.—
Angela Haupt,
Time,
28 Mar. 2025
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Home to one of the world’s largest refugee populations – most of them from Afghanistan – Pakistan has not always welcomed the foreigners, subjecting them to hostile living conditions and threatening deportation over the years.—
Sophia Saifi,
CNN Money,
28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Policies around taxes, the federal budget and migration were widely seen as contentious points among the parties.—
Sophie Kiderlin,
CNBC,
9 Apr. 2025
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However, all three of these studies come from a closely affiliated group of researchers, are based on the same dataset tracking maternal health, and use contentious measures of both IQ and fluoride exposure.—
Lauren Leffer,
Popular Science,
9 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The record indicates that the instant offense has elements of brutality, violence, assaultive behavior or conscious selection of victim's vulnerability indicating a conscious disregard for the lives, safety, or property of others, such that the offender poses a continuing threat to public safety.—
Ron Estes,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 Mar. 2025
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The effect is assaultive but clever, jolting listeners’ reflexes and then toying with their attention.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
21 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Combative.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/combative. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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