AGGRESSIVE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does aggressive mean? 

• AGGRESSIVE (adjective)
  The adjective AGGRESSIVE has 3 senses:

1. having or showing determination and energetic pursuit of your ends

2. tending to spread quickly

3. characteristic of an enemy or one eager to fight

  Familiarity information: AGGRESSIVE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AGGRESSIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having or showing determination and energetic pursuit of your ends

Context example:

aggressive drivers

Similar:

battleful; bellicose; combative (having or showing a ready disposition to fight)

competitive; militant (showing a fighting disposition)

hard-hitting; high-pressure (aggressively and persistently persuasive)

hostile (unsolicited and resisted by the management of the target company (used of attempts to buy or take control of a business))

in-your-face (blatantly aggressive)

obstreperous (boisterously and noisily aggressive)

predatory; rapacious; raptorial; ravening; vulturine; vulturous (living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey)

pugnacious; rough (ready and able to resort to force or violence)

scrappy (full of fighting spirit)

truculent (defiantly aggressive)

Also:

assertive; self-asserting; self-assertive (aggressively self-assured)

hostile (characterized by enmity or ill will)

offensive (for the purpose of attack rather than defense)

Antonym:

unaggressive (not aggressive; not given to fighting or assertiveness)

Derivation:

aggressiveness (the quality of being bold and enterprising)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Tending to spread quickly

Synonyms:

aggressive; fast-growing; strong-growing

Context example:

an aggressive tumor

Similar:

invasive (marked by a tendency to spread especially into healthy tissue)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Characteristic of an enemy or one eager to fight

Synonyms:

aggressive; belligerent

Context example:

a belligerent tone

Similar:

hostile (characterized by enmity or ill will)

Derivation:

aggress (take the initiative and go on the offensive)

aggressiveness (a natural disposition to be hostile)

 Context examples 

A rare, usually aggressive malignant embryonal neoplasm of the central nervous system occurring in children.

(Medulloepithelioma, NCI Thesaurus)

Later on, they may become anxious or aggressive, or wander away from home.

(Alzheimer's Disease, NIH: National Institute on Aging)

A usually aggressive large B-cell lymphoma characterized by the presence of monomorphic immunoblast-like neoplastic B-lymphocytes in a sinusoidal growth pattern.

(ALK-Positive Large B-Cell Lymphoma, NCI Thesaurus)

An aggressive (fast-growing) type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is usually of the T-cell type.

(ALCL, NCI Dictionary)

A malignant, usually aggressive tumor composed of atypical, neoplastic melanocytes.

(Melanoma, NCI Thesaurus)

Most subtypes share a common clinical behavior, although some subtypes are more likely to recur and follow a more aggressive clinical course.

(Meningioma, NCI Thesaurus/Adapted from WHO)

A clonal proliferation of melanocytes without significant potential for locally aggressive growth or metastasis.

(Mouse Benign Melanocytic Neoplasms, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

Although PSMA is not a biomarker of disease progression, over-expression indicates an aggressive phenotype of the prostate cancer.

(Monoclonal Antibody huJ591, NCI Thesaurus)

An aggressive carcinoma that arises from the minor salivary glands.

(Minor Salivary Gland Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

A usually malignant and aggressive neoplasm of the mesothelium which is often associated with exposure to asbestos.

(Mesothelioma, NCI Thesaurus)