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.
Meanwhile, Papperger’s assertive style has irked officials and some U.S. executives who have joined with the German business as a way to tap the booming European market.
Aged in stainless steel and neutral oak, it’s dry and well-balanced, with a bright but not overly assertive acidity, deft minerality and pleasingly delicate persistence in the mouth.
“When a team looks at this and says they’ve got qualified replacements, it’s not unusual for a team not to be that assertive in the free agent market.”
From Los Angeles Times
But Beijing’s increasingly assertive stance in the global arena is being felt not just militarily, but diplomatically, too.
From Washington Post
Compared with other herbs, parsley is much less assertive, but by no means is it insipid.
From Washington Post
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.
