aggress

English

Etymology

From Latin aggressum, past participle of aggredi (“to attack, assail, approach, go to”), from ad (“to”) + gradi (“to walk, go”), from gradus (“step”); see grade.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈɡɹɛs/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛs

Noun

aggress (uncountable)

1. Aggression.
   • 1875, anonymous author, Eighteen Hundred and Seventy: a poem:

     his aggress / Was made with such precaution as to quench / Douay's intent and throw him in a mess.

Verb

aggress (third-person singular simple present aggresses, present participle aggressing, simple past and past participle aggressed)

1. (transitive) To set upon; to attack.
2. (intransitive, construed with on) To commit the first act of hostility or offense against; to begin a quarrel or controversy with someone; to make an attack against someone.

Derived terms

• microaggress

Related terms

• aggression
• aggressive
• aggressiveness
• aggressor

Further reading

• “aggress”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “aggress”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• saggers, seggars