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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


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"Attack" Quotes from Famous Books



... always egged on by her ambitious promptings, had made himself an important figure in the senate, and had been on the eve of entering the cabinet as Colonial Secretary, when death cut short his career. A hard winter and a sharp attack of bronchitis nipped the aspiring senator in ...
— Vixen, Volume I. • M. E. Braddon
... the town with a hundred spears and a dozen of culverins—now threatened his life if he attempted it. It was a moment for a bold man. At the hour fixed Knox made his appearance. No one ventured to attack him. He preached with his usual impetuous eloquence on 'casting the buyers and sellers out of the temple,' and at its close the magistrates and council permitted the majority of the people to destroy most of the monasteries, and strip the churches and cathedral of their apparatus ...
— John Knox • A. Taylor Innes
... it—death in its fullest meaning. Haste, ply our cannon on the opening breach. Forth!—they attack the camp! Now, drive them back, Break through their gate and guards, ...
— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume XXIV. • Revised by Alexander Leighton
... and babies have come, you see another set of bull elephants coming out of the jungle. Why? Because some enemy might try to attack the Mammas and the babies from the back; so these bull elephants are there to guard them. You see, the Mammas and the babies are always in the middle, safe from ...
— The Wonders of the Jungle - Book One • Prince Sarath Ghosh
... flew to do Jacob's bidding. She had a terrible fear of London streets, at night, as well she might, and the open country beyond was even worse to her excited imagination. And Cherry was so pretty, so simple, so credulous, and withal so utterly defenceless should there be any sort of attack made upon her. Keziah's hands shook as she lighted the lantern; and as minutes were fast slipping away and still there was no sign of the truant, she was rather relieved than terrified to hear the sharp accents of her aunt's voice mingling with her father's deeper tones as the whole party came ...
— The Lost Treasure of Trevlyn - A Story of the Days of the Gunpowder Plot • Evelyn Everett-Green


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