AGGRESSIONS Synonyms: 59 Similar and Opposite Words

aggressions

noun

plural of aggression

as in assaults

the act or action of setting upon with force or violence diplomats warned that any aggression by either side could easily turn into a full-scale war

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of aggressions As quotas for immigration arrests increased that spring, he was asked to press felony charges for even minor aggressions against agents. — Emily Witt, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026 The United States deploys about 28,500 troops in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggressions from North Korea. — ABC News, 6 Aug. 2026 Many of the physical aggressions KFF Health News identified in CMS inspection reports were perpetrated by residents with diagnoses of dementia, schizophrenia, or other cognitive disorders. — Jordan Rau, NPR, 19 July 2026 Vitello, meanwhile, just takes it — macro- and micro-aggressions alike. — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 21 June 2026 The sharp comedy follows their meetings over the course of the school year, revealing the micro-aggressions, class distinctions, and prejudices of the council members, which Spector addresses with clever, amusing insight. — Mary Damiano, Miami Herald, 27 May 2026 Race, bad bosses and the fly-on-the-wall fun of watching office politics and micro-aggressions play out makes this workplace suspense novel a total page-turner (as well as a binge-worthy limited television series). — Laura Zigman, PEOPLE, 2 May 2026 Oil prices have surged since February 28, when the US and Israel opened aggressions by assassinating Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in a series of missile strikes that also killed the commander of the IRGC, the minister of defense, and other top brass. — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 12 Mar. 2026 As servers delicately navigate around the women, serving plates of food that will never be touched, micro-aggressions are tossed, disguised as jokes. — Literary Hub, 24 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for aggressions

Noun

Assaults are up, almost 2,500 assaults this year alone on police officers, felony assaults, and public servants in New York City.

— Robert McGreevy, FOXNews.com, 20 Oct. 2026
Kansas City also ranked 176th in the assaults per capita metric, the fourth-lowest city in the metric.

— Joseph Hernandez, Kansas City Star, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of assaults

Noun

On three separate occasions in the past week, Ukraine didn’t receive early warnings about missile attacks.

— Claire Carter, The Washington Examiner, 21 Oct. 2026
The wide availability of low-cost, powerful open models is one reason Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned that open models in particular pose a risk of widespread and potentially devastating cyber attacks.

— Emily Forlini, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of attacks

Noun

Five dolphins died in less than eight months, sparking public outrage, raids by law enforcement and a criminal investigation.

— Valerie Greene, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 Oct. 2026
Faheem Akram, 33, was arrested after a weekslong search involving raids across several parts of the country, a senior official at the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, Atif Ameer, told reporters.

— ABC News, ABC News, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of raids

Noun

In fact, reported evidence suggests this software commitment (from a company making its revenue from hardware) has been crucial to Nvidia’s success in fending off onslaughts from other hardware vendors such as Intel.

— Nisha Talagala, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026
Ukraine has been largely helpless in similar Russian onslaughts in recent weeks.

— Tom Bowman, NPR, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of onslaughts

Noun

Ukraine can conduct localized offensives but not enough to shift the broader battlefield balance, despite mounting Russian losses.

— ABC News, ABC News, 8 Oct. 2026
Only small offensives are possible Ukraine can conduct localized offensives but not enough to shift the broader battlefield balance, despite mounting Russian losses.

— Samya Kullab, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of offensives

Noun

Having a consistent place to live is one of the most critical factors in breaking this cycle, reducing repeat offenses, and improving public safety – not to mention saving our communities money.

— Lake County News-Sun, Chicago Tribune, 22 Oct. 2026
What makes their offenses tick doesn’t always show up in the box score.

— Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of offenses

Noun

Assassination attempts against Putin's foes -- routinely denied by the Kremlin -- have been common during his decades in power.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 23 Oct. 2026
The Horned Frogs averaged more rushing attempts than passing attempts while going 13-2.

— Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of attempts

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“Aggressions.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/aggressions. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of aggressions

noun

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