belligerence

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: bel=lig=er=ence

CIDE DICTIONARY

belligerence, n. 

•  The quality of being belligerent.  [1913 Webster]
•  the act or state of being engaged in war or a warlike conflict; warfare.  [WordNet 1.5]
•  an aggressively hostile or warlike attitude or nature; a readiness to fight or offend, with little or no provocation.  [WordNet 1.5]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

belligerence, n. (also belligerency)
1 aggressive or warlike behaviour.
2 the status of a belligerent.

THESAURUS

belligerence

aggression, aggressiveness, all-out war, antagonism, antipathy, appeal to arms, argumentativeness, armed combat, armed conflict, attack, battle, bellicism, bellicosity, belligerency, bickering, bloodshed, chauvinism, clash, clashing, collision, combat, combativeness, conflict, contention, contentiousness, despitefulness, disputatiousness, dissension, dissent, dissidence, faction, factiousness, ferocity, fierceness, fight, fighting, flak, friction, hate, hatred, hostilities, hostility, hot war, infighting, irascibility, irritability, jingoism, la guerre, litigiousness, malevolence, malice, malignity, martialism, might of arms, militancy, militarism, military operations, open hostilities, open war, partisan spirit, partisanship, pugnaciousness, pugnacity, quarrelsomeness, repugnance, resort to arms, saber rattling, shooting war, shrewishness, spite, spitefulness, state of war, the sword, total war, truculence, unfriendliness, unpeacefulness, war, warfare, warmaking, warmongering, warpath, warring, wartime