adjective
-
confident and direct in claiming one's rights or putting forward one's views
-
given to making assertions or bold demands; dogmatic or aggressive
Usage
What does assertive mean? Assertive commonly means confident and direct when trying to get what one wants or saying what one wants to say. It can also mean aggressive, forceful, or having a tendency to make demands.These two meanings are typically applied to people, their personalities, or their actions. Assertive is sometimes also applied to food to mean having a bold flavor.Example: If you want your work to be noticed, you have to be more assertive—you can’t just sit quietly at every meeting.
Other Word Forms
- assertively adverb
- assertiveness noun
- nonassertive adjective
- nonassertively adverb
- nonassertiveness noun
- overassertive adjective
- overassertively adverb
- overassertiveness noun
- pseudoassertive adjective
- pseudoassertively adverb
- unassertive adjective
- unassertively adverb
- unassertiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of assertive
Compare meaning
How does assertive compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The U.A.E.’s newly assertive approach is a fundamental shift in its strategic outlook, said officials from a Persian Gulf state.
It has a faint, almost red-hot intensity; it’s not aggressive, but assertive.
From Salon
It marked the latest victory in Turkey's increasingly assertive push to recover antiquities illegally taken abroad -- a campaign supported by a newly-developed AI tool for identifying cultural assets of Turkish origin.
From Barron's
The US security umbrella is particularly relevant in the face of an increasingly assertive China.
From Barron's
Docter was the least assertive member of the braintrust, according to people who worked with him, and seemed happiest focusing on the emotional core of his own movies.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
