Aggressively

How to spell aggressively

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce aggressively

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does aggressively mean?

1. adverbIn a forceful, hostile, or assertively pushy manner.

Aggressively in a sentence

• The rival firm priced its products aggressively to win market share.

• He drove so aggressively that other commuters kept their distance.

Where does aggressively come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb aggredi, meaning 'to approach' or 'to attack', which was built from ad- 'toward' and gradi 'to step or walk'. The literal sense was simply moving toward something, but in martial use that approach hardened into the idea of advancing on an enemy. The past participle aggressus gave English the noun 'aggression' and the adjective 'aggressive' in the 1700s, with the adverb 'aggressively' following naturally. The same gradi root that means 'to step' also lives inside everyday words like 'progress', 'gradual', and 'degree', all of which involve stepping or stages. The spelling trap comes straight from the Latin assimilation: the d of ad- changed to match the following g, which is why the word carries a double g, and the gress root supplies the double s.

How the word is built

• ag- (a form of ad-: toward)
• gress (from gradi: to step or walk)
• -ive (tending to)
• -ly (adverb suffix)