aggression
nounUS /əˈɡɹɛʃən/
Etymology From Middle French aggression, from Latin aggressio, from aggressus, past participle of aggredior (“to approach, address, attack”). By surface analysis, ag- + -gress + -ion.
1
The act of initiating hostilities or invasion.
- Control, dispossession, violence, and tyranny are not “defensive”: they are part of an organized, ongoing aggression.2019 April 28, Hagai El-Ad, “What kind of democracy deports human rights workers?”, in Yoni Molad, transl., +972 Magazine:
2
The practice or habit of launching attacks.
3
Hostile or destructive behavior or actions.
- The decision to impose a steel and aluminum tariff is an act of aggression which makes trade war between the two pillars of the West a grim possibility.2018, Michael Cottakis – LSE, “Colliding worlds: Donald Trump and the European Union”, in LSE's blog:
4
A desire for confrontation and often violence; an urge to physically harm something or someone.
5
The initiation or threat of conflict; coercion.
- Synonyms
- aggressiveness, aggressivity
- Antonyms
- nonaggression
- Derived terms
- aggressionism, aggressionist, antiaggression, autoaggression, counteraggression, cute aggression, cyberaggression, hyperaggression, macroaggression, microaggression, nanoaggression, non-aggression axiom, non-aggression principle, overaggression, passive-aggression, unaggression, war of aggression
- Related terms
- aggress, aggressive, aggressiveness, aggressor