What's the difference between belligerent and eager?

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.

Eager


Definition:

  • (a.) Sharp; sour; acid.
  • (a.) Sharp; keen; bitter; severe.
  • (a.) Excited by desire in the pursuit of any object; ardent to pursue, perform, or obtain; keenly desirous; hotly longing; earnest; zealous; impetuous; vehement; as, the hounds were eager in the chase.
  • (a.) Brittle; inflexible; not ductile.
  • (n.) Same as Eagre.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Beijing has no interest in seeing strained ties affecting development plans either.” The Moranbong band was founded by Kim Jong-un , with each member reportedly selected by a leader eager to make his mark on the cultural scene.
  • (2) The reason behind Burnham's impregnable new confidence may well also explain the coalition's eagerness to drive him on to the backbenches.
  • (3) Eager to show I was a good student, the next time we had sex, I noticed that one of my hands was, indeed, lying idle – and started to pat him on the back, absently, as if trying to wind a baby.
  • (4) Driven by a desire to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and promote a secure supply of energy, the government of Albania has been very eager to encourage increased investment in renewable energy and in 2013 a law was passed to promote renewable energy .
  • (5) Certainly the affidavit against Ferdaus paints a compelling picture of a man hellbent on waging jihad in America and eager to take the guns and explosives eventually supplied to him by the undercover FBI agents.
  • (6) Wide-eyed, tentative and much given to confidences – her voice falls to an eager whisper when she's really dishing – she seems far younger than her years.
  • (7) Coleman, in his efforts to sustain the national team's momentum, will be particularly eager to keep Craig Bellamy in the lineup, although it was the persuasiveness of Speed that brought his return.
  • (8) "EA's next CEO inherits a company beset by a broad range of legacy problems created not just by difficult retail market conditions but also by its own hand," says Nick Gibson an analyst at Games Investor Consulting Ltd. "It has been too eager to use major acquisitions – Jamdat, Playfish, Bioware, PopCap etc – to try to accelerate growth or gain early leadership positions in emerging markets, often overpaying by substantial amounts for companies that subsequently fail to deliver what EA expected they would."
  • (9) Nor should we forget why the Conservatives were so eager to seize that chance: they saw the opportunity to wipe out the achievements of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who demonstrated, over many years of hard graft, that the country’s economic management was safe in Labour’s hands.
  • (10) Boris Johnson, the mayor, has been accused of being too eager to allow developers to change the skyline.
  • (11) With a high level of English gleaned from an Erasmus stint in Oxford, she was eager to move to London.
  • (12) That report, due July 2 , is eagerly anticipated by both the NSA and its critics, as it is likely to add momentum to either side in the ongoing legislative debate on the scope surveillance.
  • (13) Hence the tearing-off-the-arm eagerness to seize the opportunity.
  • (14) The nuptials drew crowds of fans eager to witness the glitzy event, but they were kept far away from the heavily walled 16th-century fortress, which offers stunning views of Florence and surrounding Tuscan hills.
  • (15) Kipsang will be running in London in one of the most eagerly anticipated races in history.
  • (16) People eagerly accept such evidence-free claims "because the alternative mean[s] confronting outright mendacity from otherwise respected authorities, trading the calm of certainty for the disquiet of doubt".
  • (17) I'm sure that advisers are at fault: mediocre people with PR degrees, eagerly advising on how to avoid the resentment of the masses.
  • (18) Many are first- or second-generation immigrants from places such as Afghanistan, Poland, Somalia and Nigeria eager to sign up to drive for the US tech company, whose phone-based minicab-hailing app has transformed the taxi industry in 58 countries.
  • (19) Randomized trials comparing BCG and chemotherapy are in progress and are eagerly awaited.
  • (20) To bail themselves out of the NBA's worst crisis of credibility since the Tim Donaghy officiating scandal, the easy part for the NBA will be enlisting the eagerness and financial muscle of Magic Johnson and Mark Walter of the Guggenheim Partners – owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers .