Dictionary

assaultive en · ADJ

Etymology

Etymology tree English assault Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Old French -ifbor. Middle English -yf English -ive English assaultive From assault + -ive.

Meanings

1. Confrontational; tending or seeming to assault; characterized by assault.
   • 1852, “A Dish of Willis,” review of Nathaniel Parker Willis, Pencillings by the Way, in Church’s Bizarre: For Fireside and Wayside, New Series, Part 12, 18 September, 1852, p. 367, […] we must say, that depreciatory judgments and assaultive criticism, are not only not to our taste, but especially ungrateful to our feelings.
   • an assaultive patient; an assaultive incident
   • For the most part, his rages in the past have been directed at authority figures—father, brother, Army sergeant, state parole officer—and have led to violent assaultive behavior on several occasions. 1966, Truman Capote, In Cold Blood, New York: Random House, Part 4, p. 297:
   • We live in an increasingly assaultive and noisy environment, and one may obtain the clearest histories of the provocative effects of this in some migraineurs. 1985, Oliver Sacks, chapter 8, in Migraine: Understanding a Common Disorder, London: Pan, published 1987, page 165:
   • As assaultive as "Made in U.S.A" can be, it also seems to have been made in a spirit of insouciance, improvisation and fun. 2009 January 9, A. O. Scott, “Godard's '60s Policier, Set in Atlantic City, France”, in New York Times:

Forms

Deriveds

unassaultive · assaultiveness · assaultively

assaultive en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English assault Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Old French -ifbor. Middle English -yf English -ive English assaultive From assault + -ive.

Meanings

1. A person who assaults others.
   • This man is not only very very sick, but I believe he is definitely a Potential Assaultive. 1962, Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, New York: Signet, page 134:
   • Extreme assaultives were operationally defined as those who were convicted of murder, manslaughter, or attempted murder. Moderate assaultives included persons convicted of wounding with intent to cause serious bodily harm, malicious or unlawful wounding, and assault. 1980, Curt R. Bartol, chapter 8, in Criminal Behavior: A Psychosocial Approach,, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, page 223:

Forms