The aggressor in a fight or battle is the person, group, or country that starts it.
They have been the aggressors in this conflict.
Synonyms: attacker, assaulter, invader, assailant More Synonyms of aggressor
aggressor in American English
(əˈgrɛsər)
noun
a person, nation, etc. that is guilty of aggression, or makes an unprovoked attack
Word origin
LL
Examples of 'aggressor' in a sentence
aggressor
The aggressor becomes the victim, the city becomes a barren planet.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
The problem with conventional deterrence by denial is in ensuring that a potential aggressor does not perceive the chance of victory as a risk worth taking.
McInnes, Colin NATO's Changing Strategic Agenda (1990)
In fact she seems to have been more victim than aggressor, a tragic casualty of her own exalted hopes for freedom.
Lucy Moore Liberty: The Lives and Times of Six Women in Revolutionary France (2006)
In other languages
aggressor
British English: aggressor NOUN
The aggressor in a fight or battle is the person, group, or country that starts it.
They were the aggressors in this conflict.
American English: aggressor
Brazilian Portuguese: agressor
Chinese: 挑衅者
European Spanish: agresor
French: agresseur
German: Aggressor
Italian: aggressore
Japanese: 攻撃者
Korean: 침략자
European Portuguese: agressor
Latin American Spanish: agresor
(noun)
They have been the aggressors in this conflict.
Synonyms
attacker
My attacker was jailed for fifteen years.
assaulter
invader
The invaders were finally crushed in June 1719.
assailant
Other party-goers rescued the man from his assailant.
Additional synonyms
in the sense of assailant
Other party-goers rescued the man from his assailant.