aggressor

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /əˈɡrɛsər/ UK /əˈɡrɛsə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a person or nation that initiates an attack or hostility

History remembered them as the aggressor in that conflict.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person or nation that... attacker assailant invader instigatorprovoker

Opposites

victim defenderpeacemaker

Word family

Related forms aggress aggression aggressive

Etymology

From Latin aggressor ('attacker'), from aggressus, past participle of aggredi ('to approach, attack'), from ad ('to') + gradi ('to step'), from gradus ('step').

aggressor Latin gradi Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# aggressor

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /əˈɡrɛsər/
**IPA (UK):** /əˈɡrɛsə/

## Meanings
1. a person or nation that initiates an attack or hostility

## Examples
- History remembered them as the aggressor in that conflict.

## Synonyms
- attacker
- assailant
- invader
- instigator
- provoker

## Antonyms
- victim
- defender
- peacemaker

## Related Forms
- aggress
- aggression
- aggressive

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: aggressor
- Root: gradi

## Etymology
From Latin aggressor ('attacker'), from aggressus, past participle of aggredi ('to approach, attack'), from ad ('to') + gradi ('to step'), from gradus ('step').

## AI Etymology
aggressor comes from Latin aggressor ('attacker'), from aggressus, past participle of aggredi ('to approach, attack'), from ad ('to') + gradi ('to step'), from gradus ('step'). Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the noun sense is "a person or nation that initiates an attack or hostility", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as aggress, aggression, aggressive, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Latin aggressor, Latin gradi, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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