Assaultive

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Characterized by or involving physical or verbal aggression and hostile attacks toward others
2. Describing a disposition that exhibits aggressive behavior or hostility, which includes both physical and verbal attacks on others
3. Involving a tendency or manner marked by aggression and hostility, manifesting through physical attacks or verbal confrontations directed at others

Etymology: "Assaultive" is a plain formation: "assault" with the suffix "-ive," which turns a noun into an adjective meaning "tending to" or "characterized by" the thing named. An assaultive person is one given to assault, whether with fists or with words. The base word has a longer road behind it. "Assault" came into English from Old French "assaut," which descended from Latin "assaltus," the past participle of "assilire," meaning "to leap upon." The Latin verb was built from "ad-" ("to") and "salire" ("to leap"), so the core image is of springing at someone. Behind that lies the ancient root behind "salire," the same ancestry that gives English words like "salient" and "result," though those arrived through different paths. The suffix has its own lineage. The "-ive" ending came through Old French "-if" from Latin "-ivus," and passed into Middle English as "-yf" before settling into its modern spelling. Its job has stayed constant for centuries: it attaches to a verb or noun stem and gives the sense of an inclination or quality.

Synonyms: aggressive, offensive

Antonyms: defensive, protective