Etymologically
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aggressive

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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

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