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Are there any adjectives that indicates the levels of calmness ?

Especially, words that would fit between "calm" and "aggressive".

Not synonyms but different levels.

For example, it can be done like this:

  • calmer
  • calm
  • aggressive
  • very aggressive

But can we use different adjectives than using comparatives, adverbs etc. ? Or should we stick to my example?

Note: For example, I thought using "even-tempered" after "calm" but they are synonyms. (unless there are nuances of usage)

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  • 1
    "So Darn Calm You Can't Believe it Buddy". Calm is close to being an absolute, you are calm, or not calm. The rest are just levels of agitation. Aggressive isn't even a true antonym of calm, in my opinion. You can be not at all calm, but not about to attack. – Oldcat Feb 6 '14 at 17:26
  • Can you give a context? Is the focus emotional, or physical? For instance in the series: Calm - Nervous - Fearful - Agitated, the outer 2 would relate to physical signs and the inner 2 to feelings experienced internally. Which do you mean? – Leon Conrad Feb 6 '14 at 18:00
  • 1
    @Oldcat There are levels below calm. There is serene. And then there is comatose. – bib Feb 6 '14 at 18:17
  • Emotion can lead to a lot of different actions. Thus it is not suitable for forcing into a linear spectrum. – Oldcat Feb 6 '14 at 18:19
  • 3
    extremely calm, very calm, fairly calm, middling calm, slightly calm, slightly aggressive, middling aggressive, fairly aggressive, very aggressive, extremely aggressive – MetaEd♦ Feb 6 '14 at 18:44
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Stealth-oriented video games have over time developed terms to describe exactly this spectrum. I don't know if they would apply to your needs, but some of the terms include:

  • unaware/relaxed/asleep: an enemy has no idea the player is nearby or that he should even be on his guard

  • alert: an enemy's senses are heightened, either because his situation is critical (he's guarding the king's bedroom) or because he knows the player is nearby (you decided to enter the castle through the rabid dog kennel)

  • suspicious: an enemy's senses are heightened and he's actively looking for the player (because you tried to sneak past him wearing a suit made entirely of strobe lights and cowbells)

  • attacking/combative/aggressive: an enemy can see you and is trying to hurt you

  • aggro'd: the character is an enemy and will attack you on sight. Although derived from the word aggressive, this term is orthogonal to the states described above: the point is that he's ready to become combative as soon as he sees you, but otherwise he might be anywhere from relaxed to suspicious.

  • passive: the opposite of aggro'd. The character will never attack the player, no matter how aware of you he becomes.

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  • Normally Hostile enemies are usually labeled aggressive if they attack on sight. Aggro is used to define who the enemy is actively attacking.This goes back to early World of Warcraft Days where players would do what is called Juggling Aggro, which is literally just forcing the opponents to change targets rather than killing their current one who may be almost dead. – Ryan Dec 9 '16 at 20:58

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