trigger-happy

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of trigger-happy With concern solidifying around Mexico’s role as a pipeline for Chinese products, the president-elect may have another reason to adopt a trigger-happy stance on duties—and a review of USMCA. Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 3 Sep. 2019 The screenplay even pays tribute to the island’s anti-fascist heritage with an elderly, trigger-happy partisan shooting from her balcony and singing Communist songs with the Mayor. Alissa Simon, Variety, 16 Aug. 2024 Dancing next to the procession of kids and the trigger-happy xylophone infant. Raven Smith, Vogue, 22 July 2024 On the other hand, post-Soviet Russia’s nuclear strategy seemed more trigger-happy than before. Olga Oliker, Foreign Affairs, 15 Oct. 2018 See All Example Sentences for trigger-happy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for trigger-happy
Adjective
  • The American military presence in Asia is seen by allies as a critical counterbalance in a fractious region where China has been rapidly expanding its military might and a belligerent North Korea has been empowered by closer ties with Russia.
    Brad Lendon, CNN Money, 2 Apr. 2025
  • Successful long ago, Shelley is no longer a selling Machine of any sort, and mostly just begs for a break in comically desperate appeals that ping-pong from belligerent to pathetic.
    Greg Evans, Deadline, 31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • For several years, Bolsonaro had engaged in a ferocious feud with the Supreme Court—and particularly with Alexandre de Moraes, a pugnacious jurist who is sometimes described as the second most powerful man in Brazil.
    Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025
  • Its shares have dropped 35 percent this calendar year, a vertiginous slide that has coincided with the abrupt rise of Mr. Musk’s pugnacious profile in government and politics.
    Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • In fact, most bird watchers have never seen aggregations of hummingbirds that were not actively fighting over food or mates, but astonishingly, one species has overcome their bellicose nature to nest peacefully in colonies.
    GrrlScientist, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
  • Consider the People's Liberation Army's increasingly bellicose military and exercises in the Taiwan Strait.
    Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • While slightly less combative than Kayhan, Javan still conveyed conditional skepticism, framing Washington's intentions as unclear and demanding visible signs of commitment before endorsing the process.
    Raja Krishnamoorthi, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Apr. 2025
  • Peterson did not mention President Trump or his administration's combative stance against federal judges and the courts.
    Thomas Wheatley, Axios, 2 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • The bottom line: Bipartisanship is the most obvious casualty of Schumer's new warlike posture toward the GOP.
    Hans Nichols, Axios, 21 Mar. 2025
  • Freyja, however, is a more warlike goddess, and even has a part in selecting warriors for her hall in the afterlife.
    Erik Kain, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • The two were very aggressive from the start of the fight, with a lot of output.
    Trent Reinsmith, Forbes.com, 5 Apr. 2025
  • 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
Adjective
  • 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
  • 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
  • Merz may have taken to heart a truculent speech Vance had given days earlier at the Munich Security Conference.
    Shane Harris, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2025
  • Giorgia’s leadership is threatened by increasingly truculent government allies, so Arianna is overseeing the backroom process of reverting their post-Fascist party to its more tribal roots.
    Mattia Ferraresi, airmail.news, 5 Oct. 2024

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Cite this Entry

“Trigger-happy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trigger-happy. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.

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