aggressor
n.a person, group, or country that starts a fight or an attack without being provoked first.
n.a person or entity that initiates a hostile action or an unprovoked attack. Often used in legal or political contexts to distinguish the initiator from the party acting in self-defence.
“The international community identified the neighbouring country as the aggressor.”
“In many legal systems, the court must determine who was the initial aggressor before deciding if a claim of self-defence is valid.”
“Historians continue to debate whether the empire was a calculated aggressor seeking expansion or merely a reactive power responding to perceived threats on its borders.”
Commonly used in the singular to identify a specific party in a conflict.
“They lie constantly, and you need to be really, really cautious while discussing with them,” he told the Reuters news agency, stressing that Russia was the aggressor in its conflict with Ukraine.”
“The IRGC later said it had begun a “regretful response to the aggressors”, state broadcaster IRIB reported.”
From Latin aggressor (“attacker, assailant, aggressor”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.