aggressor

[ uh-gres-er ]

noun

1. a person, group, or nation that attacks first or initiates hostilities; an assailant or invader.

Word History and Origins

Origin of aggressor¹

1670–80; < Late Latin, Latin aggred- (stem of aggredī to attack; aggress ) + -tor -tor

Example Sentences

These institutions generally act by moving the aggressor to a different pod or they can take other actions, depending on the incident’s magnitude.

From Washington Blade

Schnaas says that during an in-person meeting in December 2020, the director of the unit described Roemer as a “serial aggressor,” but said that since Schnaas was not an employee at Grupo Salinas, they could not take legal steps.

From Time

Doxing is deployed as a concerted effort by a small number of aggressors to intimidate reporters, doctors and pro-vaccine advocates and make them believe a virtual mob is rallying against them, Center for Countering Digital Hate CEO Imran Ahmed said.

From Washington Post

For both, it is easy to point to the other as the aggressor, militarily and economically.

From Time

Attorneys for Ujiri filed a countersuit in August 2020, alleging that video showed Strickland to have been “undeniably the initial aggressor.”

From Washington Post

Later on, the release refers to the accuser as the “sexual aggressor” with “not one, but two young men early last Sunday morning.”

From The Daily Beast

And in many cases the appropriate response to an invasion has been a declaration of war against the aggressor.

From The Daily Beast

They intercept and diffuse, to some extent babysitting the possible aggressor until the disease of violent intent has passed.

From The Daily Beast

When passions are enflamed, people will be less willing to sit down and negotiate with someone they view as an aggressor.

From The Daily Beast

Davis begins the film, punched by an aggressor into the gutter and ends it the same way.

From The Daily Beast

He ascertained, from a reliable source of information, that Haggard had not been the aggressor.

From Project Gutenberg

It is, as far as we can tell, the only war in human history in which Mankind is fully justified as the invading aggressor.

From Project Gutenberg

Eda, of course, was the aggressor; she was irresistibly drawn, she would not be repulsed.

From Project Gutenberg

The eagle-eyed teacher spied the movement and haled the aggressor to the floor.

From Project Gutenberg

The tradition in Geoffrey's day, at least, distinctly states that Oswald's conqueror was the aggressor.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• assailant
• intruder
• invader
• trespasser