aggressive

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈɡres.ɪv/, /æɡˈres.ɪv/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from aggress-, the past participle stem of aggredī (“to approach; to attempt; to attack”), and the suffix -ive,^[2][3][4] or borrowed from New Latin aggressīvus,^[5] compare French agressif.^[3][4] Latin aggredī is from ad “to” and gradī “to step”, from gradus “a step”,^[2] from the PIE root Proto-Indo-European *ghredh- (“to walk, go”).^[2] See aggression.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Characterized by aggression, making the first attack: 1716 in MWU, 1791 in Etymonline, 1824 in the OED;^[5][2][6] the SOED and NODE date it to the early 19th century.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Disposed to attack others is from 1840.^[6] In psychology, first in translations of Freud, it is from 1913.^[2][6] Self-assertive or pushy, and also energetic and enterprising, is from 1930–31, chiefly American and Canadian at first.^[6][2] Of diseases and pathogens that spread quickly, it is from 1937,^[6] and of a substance that attacks another, corrosive, from 1957.^[6]

Timeline

• 1716 – making the first attack.^[5]
• 1840 – disposed to attack.^[6]
• 1913 – in psychology.^[2][6]
• 1930 – self-assertive, enterprising.^[6]
• 1937 – of a fast-spreading disease.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Ready or likely to attack or argue; hostile: aggressive behaviour.
2. Forceful and determined, as in business: an aggressive sales campaign.
3. Of a disease or tumour, spreading quickly.
4. Of colour or a substance, harsh or corrosive.

Word family

• aggressively
• aggressiveness
• aggressivity
• antiaggressive
• overaggressive
• superaggressive
• unaggressive
• passive-aggressive

Related words

• aggression
• aggressor
• aggress
• grade
• progress
• digress

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press