assertive

as·ser·tive

adjective \ə-ˈsər-tiv, a-\

Definition of ASSERTIVE

1

: disposed to or characterized by bold or confident statements and behavior <an assertive leader>

2

: having a strong or distinctive flavor or aroma <assertive wines>

— as·ser·tive·ly adverb

— as·ser·tive·ness noun

Examples of ASSERTIVE

1. Their daughter is an assertive little girl.
2. If you want people to listen to your opinions, you'll need to learn to be more assertive.
3. When my mother brought my baby sister home on the train from the Chicago adoption agency, she had hired a woman from the South named Arizona, much younger than Hope, vigorous, boisterous, taller, darker, and less acclimated to the behavior expected of servants in an upscale Wasp suburb up North. She was a blithe spirit, as I remember her, assertive, gleeful, expansive, loud and goofy with me when, to tease her, I'd pull on the bow of her apron strings … —Edward Hoagland, Harper's, July 2004
4. Don't substitute corn syrup or molasses for cane syrup. Corn syrup is thinner, lighter and milder than cane syrup, and molasses is thicker, darker and much more assertive. —Denise Landis, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2002
5. One of the points I think that's important is the way in which the United States has responded to the initiatives in the African Renaissance, and a lot of the developments that we have seen, in fact, have their roots in Africa. What it means for U.S. policy is that the Africans themselves are being much more assertive than they have been in the past. —Emerge, June 1998
6. Daily newspaper in Chicago metro region seeks aggressive, assertive crime reporter who thrives on getting obligatory … items done fast in order to devote time to colorful stories about villains, victims and everything in between. —Editor & Publisher, 31 Oct. 1998

Origin of ASSERTIVE

(see assert)

First Known Use: circa 1619

Related to ASSERTIVE

Synonyms

ambitious, aggressive, enterprising, fierce, go-getting, high-pressure, in-your-face, militant, pushy, self-asserting, self-assertive

Antonyms

ambitionless, low-pressure, nonassertive, unaggressive, unambitious, unassertive, unenterprising

Related Words

argumentative, bellicose, belligerent, combative, contentious, discordant, disputatious, gladiatorial, militant, pugnacious, quarrelsome, trigger-happy, truculent, warlike; hyperaggressive, overambitious; dynamic, energetic, enterprising, gung ho, hustling, strenuous, vigorous; emphatic, obtrusive; adventuresome, adventurous, daring, dashing, emboldened, gutsy, venturesome, venturous; audacious, bold, brash, brassy, bumptious, cheeky, cocksure, cocky, confident, determined, forward, impudent, insolent, overconfident, presumptuous, unapologetic, unsubdued, unyielding; bare-knuckle (also bare-knuckled or bare-knuckles), feisty, scrappy; dominating, domineering, imperious, lordly, magisterial, overbearing

Near Antonyms

easygoing, laid-back, relaxed; acquiescent, amenable, compliant, deferential, docile, resigned, submissive, tractable, yielding; cowering, cringing, groveling (or grovelling), shrinking; bashful, demure, diffident, humble, lowly, meek, mild, modest, mousy (or mousey), overmodest, passive, quiet, reserved, retiring, shy, subdued, timid, unobtrusive; obsequious, servile, slavish, subservient

See Synonym Discussion at aggressive