Free TranslationFree Translation
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Attack   /ətˈæk/   Listen
noun
Attack  n.  
1.
The act of attacking, or falling on with force or violence; an onset; an assault; opposed to defense.
2.
An assault upon one's feelings or reputation with unfriendly or bitter words.
3.
A setting to work upon some task, etc.
4.
An access of disease; a fit of sickness.
5.
The beginning of corrosive, decomposing, or destructive action, by a chemical agent.


verb
Attack  v. t.  (past & past part. attacked; pres. part. attacking)  
1.
To fall upon with force; to assail, as with force and arms; to assault. "Attack their lines."
2.
To assail with unfriendly speech or writing; to begin a controversy with; to attempt to overthrow or bring into disrepute, by criticism or satire; to censure; as, to attack a man, or his opinions, in a pamphlet.
3.
To set to work upon, as upon a task or problem, or some object of labor or investigation.
4.
To begin to affect; to begin to act upon, injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste. "On the fourth of March he was attacked by fever." "Hydrofluoric acid... attacks the glass."
Synonyms: To Attack, Assail, Assault, Invade. These words all denote a violent onset; attack being the generic term, and the others specific forms of attack. To attack is to commence the onset; to assail is to make a sudden and violent attack, or to make repeated attacks; to assault (literally, to leap upon) is to attack physically by a had-to-hand approach or by unlawful and insulting violence; to invade is to enter by force on what belongs to another. Thus, a person may attack by offering violence of any kind; he may assail by means of missile weapons; he may assault by direct personal violence; a king may invade by marching an army into a country. Figuratively, we may say, men attack with argument or satire; they assail with abuse or reproaches; they may be assaulted by severe temptations; the rights of the people may be invaded by the encroachments of the crown.


Attack  v. i.  To make an onset or attack.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |




"Attack" Quotes from Famous Books



... this valley flows a discoloured river, which reluctantly throws itself into the pestilential lake by which it is engulfed. Its course amid the sands can be distinguished only by the willows and the reeds that border it; among which the Arab lies in ambush to attack the traveller and to ...
— Palestine or the Holy Land - From the Earliest Period to the Present Time • Michael Russell
... governor of a prison in England and here began the great work of his life in a frontal attack on the corruptions he discovered. The yardsmen did a secret traffic in all the goods forbidden in the prison, there were caches of tobacco, spirits and such things under the pavements, the weaker prisoners were robbed ...
— Gilbert Keith Chesterton • Maisie Ward
... night Lady Elgin, though apparently little alarmed at the time, never recovered. Two months afterwards, in giving birth to a daughter, now Lady Elma Thurlow, she was seized with violent convulsions, which were nearly fatal; and though, to the surprise of the medical men, she rallied from this attack, her health was seriously impaired, and she died in the summer of the ...
— Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin • James, Eighth Earl of Elgin
... He thought a moment and then carefully removed the dressmaker's form and hid it behind a packing-case. But the sight of Skippy's dancing companion brought forth a fresh attack of hysterics. Then he had recourse to water and a dripping oily sponge. The sight of this so affected Tootsie that she rose precipitately and staggered to a chair. Skippy at once abandoned the sponge and sympathetically proffered ...
— Skippy Bedelle - His Sentimental Progress From the Urchin to the Complete - Man of the World • Owen Johnson
... remarks. Eleanore wanted to go home too, but Gertrude whispered to her in her imperious way and told her to stay. Familiar as she was with Gertrude's disposition, she thought that it was simply a passing attack of some kind, and regained ...
— The Goose Man • Jacob Wassermann


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 e-Free Translation.com