AGGRESSIVE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Aggressive

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/əgrˈɛsɪv/ Listen

adjective

Aggressive adj.

1.

Tending or disposed to aggress; having or showing determination and energetic pursuit of one's own ends at the expense of others or mindless of others' needs or desires; characterized by aggression; making assaults; unjustly attacking; as, an aggressive policy, war, person, nation; an aggressive businessman; an aggressive basketball player; he was aggressive and imperious in his convictions; aggressive drivers. Opposite of unaggressive. "No aggressive movement was made."

2.

Marked by self-confident ambition, vigorous competitiveness, energy and initiative; as, an aggressive young executive.

Synonyms: enterprising, pushful, pushing, pushy

3.

(Med., Biol.) Tending to grow or spread quickly; as, an aggressive tumor. (Narrower terms: invasive (vs. noninvasive))

Synonyms: fast-growing(prenominal)

4.

Tending to initiate unprovoked attacks; initiating unprovoked military action; eager to fight; as, aggressive acts against another country.

Synonyms: belligerent. Note: Narrower related terms: bellicose, combative, pugnacious, scrappy, truculent; hard-hitting, high-pressure; hostile (used of attempts to buy or take control of a business: "hostile takeover"; "hostile tender offer"); predatory, rapacious, raptorial, ravening, vulturine, vulturous. See also: assertive, hostile, offensive.

See images of 'Aggressive'

Etymology of 'Aggressive'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Aggressive" Quotes from Famous Books

... smiling one. The absurdity of the match struck him irresistibly and he smiled in return. He tripped a little over an obtruding oak-root, and Juliet took advantage of her opportunity to press him hard. He fended off the attack and himself assumed the aggressive. An instant more and he had disarmed her and had thrown his own stick flying after hers. Both were ...

— The Indifference of Juliet • Grace S. Richmond

... Tinguian were so powerful and aggressive that active steps had to be taken to protect the coast people from their raids. Had they been recognized as being essentially Chinese—a foreign, hostile population—some mention of that fact must certainly have crept into the Spanish records ...

— The Tinguian - Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe • Fay-Cooper Cole

... can doubt. Victory for Satan is a terrible calamity for humanity. Let us then, as an antidote, preach Christ, and strive to make woman the helpmeet of man and the ally of our Divine Master, and then she becomes the deadliest foe of Satan, and the most aggressive ...

— The True Woman • Justin D. Fulton

... pages of an almanac, and taking from time to time a stealthy peep over the top of it at the toilers around him. Command was imprinted in every line of his strong, square-set face and erect, powerful frame. Above the medium size, with a vast spread of shoulder, a broad aggressive jaw, and bright bold glance, his whole pose and expression spoke of resolution pushed to the verge of obstinacy. There was something classical in the regular olive-tinted features and black, crisp, curling hair fitting tightly to the well-rounded head. Yet, though ...

— The Firm of Girdlestone • Arthur Conan Doyle

... display of cynical cleverness in the verse of T. S. Eliot that I think he might be able to write almost anything except poetry. He has an aggressive champion in the distinguished novelist, May Sinclair, who says his best work is equal to ...

— The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century • William Lyon Phelps

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