aggression

/əˈgrɛʃən/

/əˈgrɛʃɪn/

Other forms: aggressions

Aggression is hostile, purposely unfriendly behavior that can sometimes be violent. A motorist who shows aggression for another may follow too closely, honk the horn, or otherwise try to intimidate.

When someone deliberately tries to make another person feel intimidated or threatened, it's an act of aggression. Forceful, unfriendly behavior towards others is one example of aggression, and one country's hostile action toward another is also a kind of aggression. It's been used since the 1600s to mean "an unprovoked attack," from the Latin root word aggressionem, "attack," and in 1912 aggression was first used to mean generally "hostile behavior."

Definitions of aggression

1. noun

   a disposition to behave aggressively
   type of:

   unfriendliness

   an unfriendly disposition
2. noun

   a feeling of hostility that arouses thoughts of attack
   synonyms: aggressiveness

   type of:

   enmity, hostility, ill will

   the feeling of a hostile person
3. noun

   violent action that is hostile and usually unprovoked
   synonyms: hostility

   types:

   meat grinder

   any action resulting in injury or destruction

   force, violence

   an act of aggression (as one against a person who resists)

   pillage, pillaging, plundering

   the act of stealing valuable things from a place

   domestic violence

   violence or physical abuse directed toward your spouse or domestic partner; usually violence by men against women

   banditry

   the practice of plundering in gangs

   rape, rapine

   the act of despoiling a country in warfare

   looting, robbery

   plundering during riots or in wartime

   despoilation, despoilment, despoliation, spoil, spoilation, spoliation

   the act of stripping and taking by force

   devastation, ravaging

   plundering with excessive damage and destruction

   depredation, predation

   an act of plundering and pillaging and marauding

   sack

   the plundering of a place by an army or mob; usually involves destruction and slaughter

   road rage

   violence exhibited by drivers in traffic

   public violence, riot

   a public act of violence by an unruly mob

   type of:

   action

   something done (usually as opposed to something said)
4. noun

   the act of initiating hostilities
   type of:

   armed combat, combat

   an engagement fought between two military forces
5. noun

   deliberately unfriendly behavior
   types:

   aggravation, irritation, provocation

   unfriendly behavior that causes anger or resentment

   bitchery

   aggressive remarks and behavior like that of a spiteful malicious woman

   bullying, intimidation

   the act of intimidating a weaker person to make them do something

   hell raising, raising hell

   making trouble just for the fun of it

   self-assertion

   the act of asserting yourself in an aggressive manner

   aggro

   (informal British usage) aggravation or aggression

   last straw

   the final irritation that stretches your patience beyond the limit

   frightening, terrorisation, terrorization

   the act of inspiring with fear

   taunt, taunting, twit

   aggravation by deriding or mocking or criticizing

   type of:

   behavior, behaviour, conduct, doings

   manner of acting or controlling yourself