truculent

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 30, 2020 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>truculent</strong> &#149; \TRUCK-yuh-lunt\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><strong>1 :</strong> aggressively self-assertive <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/belligerent">belligerent</a></p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> scathingly harsh <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vitriolic">vitriolic</a></p> <p><strong>3 :</strong> feeling or displaying ferocity <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cruel">cruel</a>, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/savage">savage</a></p> <p><strong>4 :</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deadly">deadly</a>, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/destructive">destructive</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>Warren's <em>truculent</em> demeanor made him unpleasant to work with, particularly as deadlines approached.</p> <p>"We encounter the novel not as a relic, encrusted with renown and analysis, much revered and much handled, but in all its freshness and <em>truculent</em> refusal of fiction's tropes." — <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/books/review-posthumous-memoirs-bras-cubas-machado-de-assis.html">Parul Sehgal, <em>The New York Times</em>, 16 June 2020</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p><em>Truculent</em> derives from <em>truculentus</em>, a form of the Latin adjective <em>trux</em>, meaning "savage." It has been used in English since the 16th century to describe people or things that are cruel and ferocious, such as tyrannical leaders, and has also come to mean "deadly or destructive" (as in "a truculent disease"). In current use, however, it has lost much of its etymological fierceness. It now frequently serves to describe speech or writing