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passive-aggressive

adj

Etymology

From 1940s, after passive aggression.

Definitions

  1. Showing passive, sometimes obstructionist resistance to following authoritative…

    Showing passive, sometimes obstructionist resistance to following authoritative instructions in interpersonal or occupational situations.

  2. Showing covert hostility, intending to cause annoyance or to humiliate, while maintaining…

    Showing covert hostility, intending to cause annoyance or to humiliate, while maintaining a transparent (to the recipient) veneer of politeness.

The neighborhood

Derived

paggro, pass-agg, passive-aggression, passive-aggressively, passive-aggressiveness, passive-aggressive personality disorder, passive-aggressivist, aggressor

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for passive-aggressive. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA