Test Your Vocabulary

Take Our 10-Question Quiz

Name That Thing

Take our visual vocab quiz

Test Your Knowledge »

True or False?

A quick quiz about stuff worth knowing

Take It Now »

Join Us on FB & Twitter

Get the Word of the Day and More

Facebook | Twitter
  1. Word Games
  2. Word of the Day
  3. New Words & Slang
  4. Video
 

passive-aggressive


passive–aggressive

adj

Definition of PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE

: being, marked by, or displaying behavior characterized by the expression of negative feelings, resentment, and aggression in an unassertive passive way (as through procrastination and stubbornness)
— passive–aggressive noun

First Known Use of PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE

1946

Other Psychology Terms

fetish, hypochondria, intelligence, mania, narcissism, neurosis, pathological, psychosis, schadenfreude, subliminal

Browse

Next Word in the Dictionary: passive anaphylaxis
Previous Word in the Dictionary: passive (noun)
All Words Near: passive-aggressive

Seen & Heard

What made you want to look up passive-aggressive? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).