trigger-happy
adjEtymology From trigger + happy.
1
Having a tendency or desire to shoot a firearm irresponsibly before adequately identifying the target.
- The bystanders were indiscriminately gunned down by trigger-happy gang members.
- Crime is increasing / Trigger happy policing / Panic is spreading / God knows where we're heading1971, “Inner City Blues”, in What's Going On, performed by Marvin Gaye:
1 more example
- Claudine / Don't get trigger happy with me / Don't wave a gun at me1980, Jagger–Richards, “Claudine”, performed by The Rolling Stones:
2
Broadly Inclined to behave recklessly or violently at the slightest provocation.
- Be careful when you work near him; he's trigger-happy with that chain-saw.
- He was so trigger-happy that he wheeled and punched me when I brushed by him in the hall.
1 more example
- In a country like Burma, where the trigger-happy ruling elite resorted to arms even against unarmed students on university campuses, we have drawn lessons from history. It has taught us to resort to arms when fighting against fully armed demons.2021 December 6, Kenny Coyle, “A new stage of resistance: Burmese communists return to armed struggle”, in Morning Star, archived from the original on 18 Apr 2023:
- Derived terms
- trigger-happiness
- Related terms
- slaphappy