Synonyms for aggressive
- adjective
All synonyms
Adjective
1. Combative
combative, belligerent, truculent, hostile, pugnacious, bellicose, antagonistic, militant, rough, contentious, scrappy informal
Other
offensive, hard-hitting, pushing, fast-growing, bare-knuckle
Definitions
- adj. 1
Characterized by aggression; highly combative; prone to behave in a way that involves attacking (especially if unjustly) or arguing.
an aggressive policy, war, person, nation
Related words
- Word family
- aggressively aggressiveness aggressivity aggression aggressor
Example sentences
- hostile The Soviet Union took a hostile attitude toward us.
- belligerent She flaunts a belligerent attitude.
- combative The combative patient was given a tranquilizer.
- offensive The US staged a land offensive on Iraq from Kuwait.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| aggressive | rising | |
| hostile | steady | |
| belligerent | steady | |
| combative | rising | |
| truculent | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- rough1
- 7 letters
- pushing2, hostile2, scrappy2
- 8 letters
- militant3
- 9 letters
- offensive3, combative3, bellicose3, truculent3
- 10 letters
- pugnacious3
- 11 letters
- contentious3, belligerent4
- 12 letters
- antagonistic5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (pushing2 = 2 syllables).