“Designating, displaying, or characteristic of a personality type or disorder characterized by both passivity and aggression, esp. one in which aggression is expressed through passively obstructive behaviour.”

OED offers the following examples:

1945 Nomencl. & Method of Recording Diagnoses (War Dept. Tech. Bull.) TB MED203 15/2 Passive-aggressive reaction. The aggressiveness is expressed in such reactions by passive measures, such as pouting, stubbornness, procrastination, inefficiency, and passive obstructionism. 1964 Jrnl. Marriage & Family 26 81/1 The psychologist felt that this was a passive-aggressive personality, passive-aggressive type, with underlying paranoid features. 1983 D. STAFFORD-CLARK & A. C. SMITH Psychiatry for Students 167 The patients show childlike, submissive and apparently defeated attitudes in positions imposing stress and requiring responsibility. They attempt at times to gain control of people by emotional manipulation rather than entering into adult negotiations and relationships. In America the term ‘passive/aggresssive’ personality is often used. 1997 Neon Sept. 97/4 All these co-dependent, passive-aggressive yuppie neurotics really want is an ansaphone and a therapist.

Passive: lower level of action ranging from inaction to submissive.

Aggressive: higher level of action ranging from not submitting to out and out brute force direct frontal attack.

Ever see how the pecking order works among animals. In a wolf pack, there is one dominant wolf to which all others submit. This one is more aggressive than passive.

The go down the line to the second most dominant wolf…less aggressive than the dominant one…to which all other wolves (except #1) submit…but #2 submits to #1

Every wolf has a place in the system and thus has various ratios of passive aggressive traits.

And people do the same thing. try this link to see human traits of passive aggressive behavior

http://emoclear.com/clusters/passiveaggressive.html

Hope this helps. Best wishes in your studies.

aggressive means rebelling or turning against.

example:

John was passive n stayed calm throughout the fight but Tom was aggressive and ended up by hitting a member of the opposite team.