What's the difference between belligerent and combative?

Belligerent


Definition:

  • (p. pr.) Waging war; carrying on war.
  • (p. pr.) Pertaining, or tending, to war; of or relating to belligerents; as, a belligerent tone; belligerent rights.
  • (n.) A nation or state recognized as carrying on war; a person engaged in warfare.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He could be the target of more punishing wit, as when Michael Foot, noting a tendency to be tougher abroad than at home, called him "a belligerent Bertie Wooster without even a Jeeves to restrain him."
  • (2) Though the exercises have given the US a chance to vent its frustration at what appears to be state-sponsored espionage and theft on an industrial scale, China has been belligerent.
  • (3) As well as George Dyer, there was the murderer Perry Smith in the Truman Capote story Infamous, the hot-headed mobster child-killer in Road To Perdition, the brooding Ted Hughes in Gwyneth Paltrow’s Sylvia biopic and a belligerent Mossad assassin in Steven Spielberg’s Munich.
  • (4) This plays into the widespread belief that Muslims are under attack from a belligerent west and its local proxies.
  • (5) In international affairs he has found the only posture more dangerous than belligerence – incoherence.
  • (6) The belligerence of 7 patients who had suffered an acute brain insult was effectively controlled by propranolol in doses of 60 to 320 mg per day.
  • (7) However, despite the country’s belligerent behaviour in the region and its egregious human rights record, which have long left it isolated, there is an opportunity for engagement given that prominent regime officials have indicated a willingness to reform.
  • (8) Asked about the status of his own job, the press secretary joked “I’m right here”, telling reporters, in a belligerent line that could have been uttered by his impersonator Melissa McCarthy: “You can keep taking your selfies.” The president was busy sowing confusion by trying a new passive-aggressive tone on Twitter , musing: “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out.
  • (9) Despite the pro-AV leader, Ed Miliband, having stuck his neck out a few times for the yeses, belligerent turns by grumpy old stagers such as John Reid and David Blunkett have created the impression that the people's party has no interest in giving the people more of a say.
  • (10) To avoid this, women in high executive office often assume a corporate persona that overcompensates by being either brittle and defensive, or Thatcher-esque in terms of belligerence.
  • (11) European commission upgrades growth forecast for UK economy Read more Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: “The initial belligerence of the Trump administration towards China and Japan appears to have given way to a more practicable way of doing things, and while peace may not have broken out quite yet, some welcome pragmatism does appear to be taking hold in Washington.
  • (12) Mattis pointedly warned North Korea to back off, pledging an “overwhelming” response to any belligerence .
  • (13) Germany's bureaucratic stasis contrasts with a welter of events, official and unofficial, digital, public and private, in the other former belligerent countries.
  • (14) For the highest purpose of a democratic government is to bring a society together and hold it together, not to divide it with fears, with rumours of wars, with acts of belligerence against other and then against its own.
  • (15) But if the odd local blog bristles that us lot should “go back where we came from”, the antipathy to immigrants from farther away ( 8.59% of the local population, according to a recent Oxford University study ; far lower than the 12.5% national average) is much stronger: especially to the eastern Europeans, many of whom have landed in scruffy parts of Cliftonville, where they have belligerently set about opening shops and car washes, and trying to get on with their lives.
  • (16) Five and a half decades of history show us that such belligerence inhibits better judgement.
  • (17) The White House condemned the attack as "belligerent", adding: "The United States is firmly committed to the defence of our ally … and to the maintenance of regional peace and stability."
  • (18) Clapper described the threats from Pyongyang as "very belligerent" and said he is "very concerned about the actions of the new young leader", Kim Jong-un .
  • (19) Israeli voters – including Labourites disillusioned by what they saw as Palestinian mendacity and belligerency – felt drawn to the old warrior.
  • (20) These conciliatory tactics did not immediately appeal to Thatcher, though she learned to swallow her belligerence.

Combative


Definition:

  • (a.) Disposed to engage in combat; pugnacious.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I want to be clear; the American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission,” said Obama in a speech to troops at US Central Command headquarters in Florida.
  • (2) The manufacturers, British Aerospace describe it as a "single-seat, radar equipped, lightweight, multi-role combat aircraft, providing comprehensive air defence and ground attack capability".
  • (3) Infusion of sodium lactate associated with isoproterenol could be used to combat the depressent effects of betablockers in patients with cardiac disorders.
  • (4) By the time Van Kirk returned to the US in June 1943, he had flown 58 combat and eight transport missions.
  • (5) They insist this is the best way of ensuring the country does not descend into chaos before the final withdrawal of combat troops.
  • (6) That’s a criticism echoed by Democrats in the Senate, who issued a report earlier this month criticising Republicans for passing sweeping legislation in July to combat addiction , the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (Cara), but refusing to fund it.
  • (7) They are the E-1 to E-3 pay grades and soldiers in combat arms units.
  • (8) We reviewed the pre-Vietnam contents of the service medical and personnel records of 250 Vietnam combat veterans, in an attempt to identify factors predisposing to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
  • (9) If we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific [Isis] targets, I will recommend that to the president,” Dempsey said, preferring the term “close combat advising”.
  • (10) Environmental campaigners had been apprehensive about the chances of the Senate ratifying a new international treaty – a successor to the Kyoto protocol – to combat global warming unless a consensus had already been reached on Capitol Hill.
  • (11) Germany’s parliament has thrown its weight behind the European campaign against Islamic State , voting with a solid majority in favour of deploying military personnel to Syria in a non-combat role.
  • (12) The Pentagon leadership suggested to a Senate panel on Tuesday that US ground troops may directly join Iraqi forces in combat against the Islamic State (Isis), despite US president Barack Obama’s repeated public assurances against US ground combat in the latest Middle Eastern war.
  • (13) In government, Abbott had relished the daily combat but his officials complained he wasn’t enamoured by detailed policy work.
  • (14) The home fans were lifted by the sight of Billy Bonds, a legend in these parts, being presented with a lifetime achievement award before the kick-off and the former West Ham captain and manager probably would have enjoyed playing in Allardyce's combative midfield.
  • (15) Rarely has there been a potential presidential candidate so battle-hardened and ready for combat.
  • (16) Computer says no: Amazon uses AI to combat fake reviews Read more “Imagine as the CEO of a major company you go off and spend £100m on gathering data,” Hammond says.
  • (17) Al-Shamiri has been held as an enemy combatant without charge at Guantánamo since 2002.
  • (18) The government's decision to allow a cull of badgers, reportedly to combat bovine tuberculosis, "flies in the face of the scientific evidence" and will serve only to spread the disease, Labour claims.
  • (19) In addition, multiple regression analysis was used to examine predictive relationships between premilitary adjustment, military adjustment, combat exposure, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
  • (20) The prime minister could publish the reply upon his return from the opening of climate change talks in Paris on Tuesday next week, depending on the progress made in discussions between Russia and the west on the best approach to combating Isis.