Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Aggressive |
AggressiveAdjective1. Having or showing determination and energetic pursuit of your ends; "an aggressive businessman"; "an aggressive basketball player"; "he was aggressive and imperious; positive in his convictions"; "aggressive drivers". 2. Marked by aggressive ambition and energy and initiative; "an aggressive young exective"; "a pushful insurance agent"; "a pushing youth intent on getting on in the world". 3. Tending to spread quickly; "an aggressive tumor". 4. Characteristic of an enemy or one eager to fight; "aggressive acts against another country"; "a belligerent tone". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "aggressive" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1861. (references) |
Etymology: Aggressive \Ag*gres"sive\, adjective. [Compare to the French expression agressif.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Language | Vigorously energetic esp. in the use of initiative. . Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: AggressiveSynonyms: belligerent (adj), enterprising (adj), fast-growing(a) (adj), pushful (adj), pushing (adj), pushy (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: unaggressive (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Attack | Adjective: attacking;Verb: aggressive, offensive, obsidional. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Aggressive |
| Specialty definitions using "aggressive": aggressive investment strategy ♦ bauxitization, botwar ♦ Direct competition, Dominance-Subordination ♦ intermediate-grade lymphomas ♦ Leukemia-Lymphoma, T-Cell, Acute, HTLV-I-Associated, Leukostasis, lymphoblastic, Lymphoma, Large-Cell, lymphome of lymphoblastic type ♦ Religion ♦ Sarcoma, Kaposi ♦ Tumor Lysis Syndrome ♦ War Risk. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | When I got to them we got into aggressive negotiations (Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones; writing credit: George Lucas) Alright, if your product's lousy, you need an aggressive sales pitch (Life with Louie; writing credit: Martin Miehe-Renard; Mette Andersen Ottesen) It's aggressive! It's destructive, but not too destructive (Gilmore Girls; writing credit: Povl Erik Carstensen; Sebastian Dorset) Excellent. He's enterprising, aggressive, outgoing, young, bold, vicious (A Clockwork Orange; writing credit: Stanley Kubrick) Nothing. I assumed command according to regulations, since your first officer was reluctant to take aggressive action (Star Trek; writing credit: Walter Black; William Hamilton) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Aggressive Women (1983) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
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Periodicals |
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High Tech |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | F-15 performs an aggressive vertical maneuver. |  | [An aggressive advance]. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
 | A wild animal making aggressive attacking noises and breathing. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Theodore Roosevelt | Aggressive fighting for the right is the greatest sport in the world. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Winston S. Churchill | 1946 | When the designs of wicked men or the aggressive urge of mighty States dissolve over large areas the frame of civilized society, humble folk are confronted with difficulties with which they cannot cope. ("Iron Curtain" Speech) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | This barber had made him aggressive. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | They may sometimes be aggressive or even violent. (references) | |
In general, younger patients tend to have more aggressive tumors. (references) | ||
Some patients with an aggressive form of FSGS proceed to ESRD in 2 to 3 years. (references) | ||
Business | Do not be overly aggressive while negotiating. (references) | |
This factor creates aggressive price competition in the market. (references) | ||
They are conducting an aggressive promotion and advertising campaign. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Switzerland | In 1998 the city of Basel passed a law banning aggressive tactics for handing out pamphlets. (references) |
China | During the year, propaganda authorities seemed to pay less attention to aggressive reporting on economic topics. (references) | |
Macau | Government officials claim that the local press has grown more aggressive about demanding accountability from public officials since the handover. (references) | |
Economic History | Bolivia | Sanchez de Lozada pursued an aggressive economic and social reform agenda. (references) |
Uzbekistan | An aggressive advertising campaign has helped capture the market very easily. (references) | |
Kenya | Opportunities exist in this sector, but success will require aggressive marketing. (references) | |
Human Rights | Israel and the occupied territories | Some police described a few of their colleagues as having engaged in overly aggressive actions. (references) |
Cuba | Prison guards and state security officials subjected human rights and prodemocracy activists to threats of physical violence, to systematic psychological intimidation, and to detention or imprisonment in cells with common and violent criminals, sexually aggressive inmates, or state security agents posing as prisoners. (references) | |
Minorities | Kenya | However, key churches and NGO's claim that a number of witnesses were prevented from testifying, especially after, half way through the investigation, the Government replaced the Commission's aggressive prosecutor. (references) |
Political Economy | PORTUGAL | Portugal has also pursued an aggressive privatization plan for state-owned companies. (references) |
VENEZUELA | Therefore, one can expect continued aggressive use of monetary policy as a macroeconomic tool. (references) | |
PORTUGAL | By 1997, these had fallen to 5.8 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively, and the country has continued its aggressive privatization schedule. (references) | |
Political Rights | Indonesia | The MPR was to decide its precise future role and transitional arrangements through further constitutional changes to be considered in 2002. The legislative branch has demonstrated its independence through the DPR's aggressive pursuit of its government oversight function, as well as the MPR's success in first forcing President Wahid to cede more authority over daily government management to Vice President Megawati because of perceived inefficiency and inconsistency in the Wahid Administration's implementation of policy. (references) |
Trade | Brazil | Until very recently, Brazilian states were very aggressive in terms of offering incentives to attract new business to their regions. (references) |
Travel | Guatemala | Foreign competitors are extremely aggressive. (references) |
Women | Singapore | A victim of domestic violence can obtain court orders barring the spouse from the home until the court is satisfied that the spouse has ceased his aggressive behavior. (references) |
Yemen | In addition in late 2000, the Ministry of Interior initiated an aggressive campaign to recruit and train female police officers; the new officers completed training and were deployed in March. (references) | |
Worker Rights | Romania | Some NGO's stated that fear of reprisal from organized crime groups deters them from taking aggressive action against traffickers. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Bill Clinton | That's correct. And what we need to do, therefore, is to be, in my view, we need to be aggressive, but we need to do it by building international cooperation as much as possible. Even if we have to slow down, and there's some things we can do. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Calvin Coolidge | 1923-1929 | Much may be hoped for from the earnest studies of those who advocate the outlawing of aggressive war. |
Harry S. Truman | 1945-1953 | A realistic and practical attack on the emergency will require aggressive action by local governments, with Federal aid, to exploit all opportunities and to give the veterans as far as possible first chance at vacancies. |
John F. Kennedy | 1961-1963 | In a word, Cuba was under the continuous threat of aggressive forces, which did not conceal their intention to invade its territory. |
Lyndon B. Johnson | 1963-1969 | The North Vietnamese know that they cannot achieve their aggressive purposes by force. |
Jimmy Carter | 1977-1981 | But now the Soviet Union has taken a radical and an aggressive new step. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | We must strive, through innovations like the payment-in-kind crop swap approach and an aggressive export policy, to restore health and vitality to rural America. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Aggressive" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.59% of the time. "Aggressive" is used about 1,931 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.59% | 1,923 | 4,451 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.41% | 8 | 124,375 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,931 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "aggressive": aggressive act ♦ aggressive advertisement ♦ aggressive attitude ♦ aggressive campaign ♦ aggressive driving ♦ aggressive investment strategy ♦ aggressive lymphoma ♦ aggressive man ♦ aggressive move ♦ aggressive road user behaviour ♦ aggressive soil conditions ♦ aggressive war ♦ aggressive woman. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "aggressive": aggressive-looking. | |
Ending with "aggressive": non-aggressive. | |
Containing "aggressive": oral-aggressive-anal-retentive-come-and-see-me-five-times-a-week-for-years-at-vast-expense-or-how-do-i-know-you're-really-committed, Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "aggressive"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | aggressief. (various references) | |
Albanian | agresor (aggressor, attacker), agresiv (truculent), sulmues (aggressor, assailant, assault, assaulter, attacker, offensive, raider, storm trooper), energjik (abuzz, active, busily, dapper, drastic, dynamic, eager, energetic, forceful, full of beans, get going, high-spirited, live, lively, peppy, punchy, pushing, rattling, snappy, stirring, sturdy, vigorous, vital, zippy). (various references) | |
Arabic | مكافح (fighter, militant), مشاكس (bitchy, cantankerous, contentious, currish, dissentious, fresh, obstreperous, ornery, petulant, pugnacious, quarrelsome, rowdy, sorehead, termagant, truculent), هجومي (offensive), عدواني (cantankerous, offensive, petulant, quarrelsome, squabble, truculent), العدواني (attacker). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | враждебен (adverse, hostile, ill, inimical, irreconcilable, opponent, opposing, rancorous, sullen, unfriendly), настойчив (earnest, importunate, importune, insistent, persistent, pressing), нападателен (incursive, militant, offensive, truculent), агресивен (fresh, scrappy, truculent), предприемчив (adventurous, bold, driving, enterprising, go ahead, pushing, up and coming). (various references) | |
Chinese | 进取 (Enterprising), 氣勢洶洶 , 忮 . (various references) | |
Czech | agresívnost, útoèný (belligerent, offensive, rampant). (various references) | |
Danish | angribende, aggressiv (hostile), offensiv (offensive). (various references) | |
Dutch | agressief (aggresive). (various references) | |
Esperanto | atakema, ataka (offensive), agresiva, agresema, ofensiva (offensive). (various references) | |
Farsi | پرپشتکار, پرتکاپو (Energetic), پرخاشگر (Aggressor), مهاجم (Aggressor, Invader, Offensive, Raider), متجاوز (Aggressor, Offender, Offensive, Transgressor, Trespasser, Violator, Wrongdoer), سلطه جو. (various references) | |
Finnish | agressiivinen, hyökkäyshaluinen, hyökkäävä (attacking). (various references) | |
French | agressif (aggresive). (various references) | |
German | angriffslustig (belligerent, hackles up), aggressiv (aggressiv, aggressively, belligerent, pugnacious, pugnaciously, pushily, stropping). (various references) | |
Greek | επιθετικός (adjectival, attributive, belligerent). (various references) | |
Hawaiian | agresiv. (various references) | |
Hebrew | תוקפ י (bellicose, obsidional, pugnacious, truculent), אלים (strong, strongarm, violent). (various references) | |
Hungarian | támadó (aggressor, assailant, assaulter, attacker, diatribe, invader, invasive, offensive, raider), agresszív. (various references) | |
Indonesian | agresif (militant). (various references) | |
Italian | aggressivo (assaulting, offensive, raiding, rampant, truculent). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | "'的 (offensive), 戦闘的 (militant), 侵略的 , アクリル繊維 (accommodator, accord, accordion, accordion door, accordion pleats, achromatic lens, acid, acidosis, acoustic, acoustic guitar, acoustic sound, acrobat, acrobatic, acrobatic dance, acrobatic dancer, acropolis, acrylic fiber, acrylonitrile, against, against wind, agglomeration, agitation, agoraphobia, agreement, agribusiness, agriculture, Asia, Asia dollar, aside, assassin, assault, assert, assertiveness training, assign, assignment, assist, assistance, assistant, assistant director, assistant manager, assistant purser, asymmetric design, asymmetry, contortionist, to instigate, to stir up), 向"う気 , 向"う意気 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | し"りゃくてき, せ"とうてき (militant), "う'きてき (offensive), む"ういき, む"うき, アグレッシブ . (various references) | |
Korean | 호 (Belligerent, militant). (various references) | |
Manx | caggoil (martial, warlike), baggyrtagh (blusterer, imminent, intimidating, ominous, sinister, threatener), aarloo dy woalley. (various references) | |
Papiamen | agresivo. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | aggressiveay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | agressivo (assertive, belligerent, ill-conditioned, offensive, pushy, truculent). (various references) | |
Romanian | ameninţãtor (comminatory, impending, menacing, menacingly, minacious, minatory, ominous, ominously, threatening, threateningly), agresiv (aggressively, offensive, peppery, rampant, warlike), activ (acting, active, actively, afoot, agile, alive, assets, bouncing, brisk, busy, dapper, diligent, dynamic, efficient, energetic, fierce, go ahead, industrious, living, operative, pragmatic, quick, regular, spry). (various references) | |
Russian | агрессивный (agressive, bellicose, invasive). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | agresivan (bumptious, pushy, two-fisted). (various references) | |
Spanish | agresivo (belligerent, militant, rampant, self-assertive, thrustful, truculent). (various references) | |
Swedish | aggressiv (truculant, truculent). (various references) | |
Turkish | atılgan (adventuresome, bold, brash, dare devil, enterprising, fiery, Hardy, reckless, venturesome), agresif (thrusting), saldırgan (aggressor, assailant, assailer, attacker, get-tough, hard-hitting, invader, militant, offensive, pushy, thrusting), saldırı ile ilgili, kavgacı (bellicose, belligerent, combatant, combative, contentious, disagreeable, disputatious, fighter, litigious, militant, pugnacious, quarrelsome, ruffian, scrappy, spoiling for a fight, turbulent, warlike, wrangler), girişken (clubable, clubbable, clubby, companionable, enterprising, full of pep, pushful, pushing, sociable, up and coming). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | настирливий (adhesive, hard bitten, importunate, obstinate, obtrusive), напористий (pushing), наполегливість (insistence, obstinacy, patience, perseverance, persistence, urgency), наполегливий (emphatic, emphatical, importune, insistent, obstinate, patient, perseverant, persevering, persistent, pressing, sedulous, tenacious, unremitting, urgent), зухвалий (audacious, barefaced, bold, bold-faced, brazen faced, cheeky, cocksy, cocky, coxy, daring, flip, immodest, impertinent, insolent, necky, overbearing, perky, pert, provocative, provocatory, pushing, rousing, saucy, wise), задирливість, задирливий (contentious, provocative, provocatory), енергійний (active, arduous, deedful, eager, energetic, energetical, fell, go ahead, managing, pithy, pushful, red blooded, spirited, spiritful, spirituous, strenuous, two-fisted, up and coming, zippy), активний (active), агресивний (bellicose), дійовий (acting, active, effectual, efficacious, forceful, valid, virtuous). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | xâm lăng công kích hay gây sự, xâm lược (invasive), xông xáo, sự xâm lược sự công kích sự gây sự, sự gây hấn (aggression), năng nổ (lively), hung hăng (heady, scalp, swashbuckling, truculent, volcanic), gây hấn, gây gỗ (scalp). (various references) | |
Welsh | ymwthiol (intrusive, obtrusive), ymosodol (offensive), gormesol (arbitrary, oppressive, tyrannical). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | infestus. (various references) |
| Arabic | 500-Modern | mahjas. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "aggressive": aggressively, aggressiveness, aggressivenesses. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "aggressive": hyperaggressive, nonaggressive, overaggressive, unaggressive. (additional references) | |
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"Aggressive" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: aggessive, aggresive, aggrssive, agresive, agressif, agressiv, agressive. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "aggressive" (pronounced ugre"siv) |
| 7 | u g r e" s i v | progressive, regressive. |
| 5 | -r e" s i v | depressive, expressive, impressive, oppressive, repressive, unimpressive. |
| 4 | -e" s i v | excessive, obsessive, possessive, recessive, successive. |
| 3 | -s i v | abrasive, abusive, adhesive, allusive, apprehensive, aversive, coercive, cohesive, collusive, comprehensive, compulsive, conclusive, conducive, convulsive, corrosive, counteroffensive, decisive, defensive, derisive, discursive, dismissive, dispersive, divisive, effusive, elusive, erosive, evasive, exclusive, expansive, expensive, explosive, extensive, hypertensive, illusive, impassive, impulsive, incisive, inclusive, inconclusive, indecisive, inexpensive, inoffensive, intrusive, invasive, massive, missive, nonexclusive, nonresponsive, obtrusive, offensive, passive, pensive, permissive, persuasive, pervasive, reclusive, reflexive, repulsive, responsive, submissive, subversive, unobtrusive, unresponsive. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-e-g-g-i-r-s-s-v" | |
-1 letter: aggrieves. | |
-2 letters: aggrieve. | |
-3 letters: aegises, aggress, gassier, gravies, greases, greaves, greiges, grieves, raggees, raggies, reggaes, regives, revises, rivages, saggers, saggier, seggars, veggies, visages. | |
-4 letters: aeries, aggers, aggies, agrees, aivers, arises, averse, eagers, eagres, easier, easies, eggars, eggers, egises, egress, erases, gagers, gasser, givers, graves, grease, greave, greige, grieve, ragees, raggee, raises, reaves, regave, reggae. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-e-g-g-i-r-s-s-v" | |
+2 letters: aggressively, unaggressive. | |
+3 letters: nonaggressive. | |
+4 letters: aggressiveness, aggressivities, overaggressive. | |
+5 letters: hyperaggressive. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Historic 11. Quotations: Fiction 12. Quotations: Non-fiction | 13. Quotations: Spoken 14. Quotations: Speeches 15. Usage Frequency 16. Expressions | 17. Expressions: Internet 18. Translations: Modern 19. Translations: Ancient 20. Derivations | 21. Rhymes 22. Anagrams 23. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
