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aggressive

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

10 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "aggressive", 10-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "aggressive" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "aggressive" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

aggressive is anEnglishadj. It means: Characterized by aggression; highly combative; prone to behave in a way that involves attacking (especially if unjustly) or arguing. Pronounced /əˈɡɹɛs.ɪv/. It ranks #4,135 in English word frequency. Often confused with aggressively and aggression.

Key facts for aggressive
PropertyValue
Headwordaggressive
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdj
IPA/əˈɡɹɛs.ɪv/
Letters10
Frequency rank#4,135
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of aggressive in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for aggressive is 10 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈɡɹɛs.ɪv/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,135 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for aggressive, with forms such as "aggerssive", "aggresisve", and "aggresive". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "aggressively", "aggression", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From aggress + -ive. Compare with French agressif. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is aggressive, spelled A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Characterized by aggression; highly combative; prone to behave in a way that involves attacking (especially if unjustly) or arguing.
  2. 2
    Exploiting every opportunity to be applied.
  3. 3
    That spreads quickly or extensively; virulent; malignant.
  4. 4
    Involving high risk for potentially high reward.
  5. 5
    Female but having a male or masculine gender presentation; butch.

Etymology

From aggress + -ive. Compare with French agressif.

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: aggerssive,aggresisve,aggresive,aggressiev,aggressivve,aggressvie,aggrressive,aggrsesive,agressive,agrgessive,gagressive

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for aggressive

Misspelling Variants of "aggressive"

aggerssive10aggresisve10aggresive9aggressiev10aggressivve11aggressvie10aggrressive11aggrsesive10
Misspelling Variants of "aggressive"

Frequency rank: #4,135 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "aggressive"?
"aggressive" is spelled A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈɡɹɛs.ɪv/.
What does "aggressive" mean?
As an adj, "aggressive" means: Characterized by aggression; highly combative; prone to behave in a way that involves attacking (especially if unjustly) or arguing.
What words are commonly confused with "aggressive"?
"aggressive" is commonly confused with "aggressively", "aggression". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "aggressive"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "aggressive" is /əˈɡɹɛs.ɪv/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "aggressive"?
From aggress + -ive. Compare with French agressif. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter A in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.