warlike

From war +‎ -like. Compare the older warly.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔɹlaɪk/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːlaɪk/

• Audio (US)

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warlike (comparative more warlike, superlative most warlike)

1. Hostile and belligerent.
2. Martial, bellicose or militaristic.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:

     Doubt not my Lord and gratious Soueraigne,
     But Tamburlaine, and that Tartarian rout,
     Shall either periſh by our warlike hands,
     Or plead for mercie at your highneſſe feet.

   • 2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.

• nonwarlike
• peaceful