hawkish

adjective

hawk·ish ˈhȯ-kish

Synonyms of hawkish next

: resembling or suggesting a hawk or the beak of a hawk in appearance

a hawkish nose

He has a thatch of black curly hair and hawkish features.—

Jeff Shear

: having a militant attitude (as in a dispute) and advocating immediate vigorous action

especially : supporting war or warlike policies

a hawkish politician

He was a frequent and persistently hawkish participant in the war councils of the Administration. —

Vincent Blasi

While definitions vary, "neoconservative" generally refers to formerly moderate policy advocates who favor a hawkish and assertive foreign policy to implant democracy and American values abroad. —

Paul Richter

hawkishly adverb

Land is expensive, scarce, and watched hawkishly by environmentalists. —

Boston Magazine

hawkishness noun

… his Western anti-government philosophy and cold-war hawkishness… —

Jon Meacham

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web In its announcement, the Fed struck a particularly hawkish tone, implying that more increases were conceivable in the near future. —

Ben Weiss, Fortune Crypto, 20 June 2023 Inflation, a hawkish Federal Reserve, endless political strife, nosebleed valuations, a potential recession, wobbly regional banks—those are just for starters. —

Vildana Hajric, Bloomberg.com, 8 June 2023 The rumbling banking crisis underscores the hazards to the economy of a hawkish Fed. —

Jane Thier, Fortune, 5 May 2023 In recent months, Tregulova had come under intense criticism from Russia’s hawkish proponents of the war in Ukraine due to the Tretyakov’s alleged resistance to the patriotic fervor that has engulfed the country’s elite. —

Mary Ilyushina, Washington Post, 9 Feb. 2023 Powell responded with a very hawkish speech at Jackson Hole that sent markets plummeting. —

Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 1 Dec. 2022 Right now, fighting the Fed creates the risk that the Fed itself has to fight back, by becoming more hawkish, at least in rhetoric, to avoid financial conditions loosening too much. —

James MacKintosh, WSJ, 16 Nov. 2022 The fifth question is whether a hard landing would weaken central banks’ hawkish resolve on inflation. —

Nouriel Roubini, Time, 13 Oct. 2022 The consensus now, even among formerly hawkish Republicans, is that the United States should never have invaded Iraq 20 years ago. —

Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 20 Mar. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hawkish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.