passive-aggressively

adverb

In a passive-aggressive manner.

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Meanings

adverbpassive-aggressively (comparative more passive-aggressively, superlative most passive-aggressively)

comparative more passive-aggressively · superlative most passive-aggressively

  1. In a passive-aggressive manner.

    [W]ould I like it if I left the dishes in the sink just once, and went into the next room to play my guitar, and Tom sighed all passive-aggressively and banged around the dishes as he sacrificingly cleaned them?

    2008, Nerissa Nields, “Forgiveness”, in How to Be an Adult: A Musician’s Guide to Navigating Your Twenties, Northampton, Mass.: Mercy House Publishing, →ISBN, part 2 (Taking Care of the Vehicle That Is You), page 60

Origin

From passive-aggressive + -ly.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

passive-aggressively. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/passive-aggressively

MLA

“passive-aggressively.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/passive-aggressively. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “passive-aggressively,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/passive-aggressively.

Source: passive-aggressively on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.