By Maggie McGonagle
The Base - Belligerent
Belligerent is used to describe someone or something showing aggression or a readiness to fight. An example sentence using the word "belligerent" could be, "His clearly hostile and belligerent attitude after loosing the game made it clear that he was not a good sport."
How the Suffix Changes the Base
Belligerency is the state of being belligerent, or the state of being aggressive and hostile. It is no longer used as an adjective, now it is a noun. Here is an example: "His state of belligerency after loosing the game made it clear that he was not a good sport." Now belligerent has been changed to stand on its own as a noun, instead of being used as an adjective to describe his attitude.