Attack
WordNet
noun
(1) A decisive manner of beginning a musical tone or phrase
(2) An offensive move in a sport or game
"They won the game with a 10-hit attack in the 9th inning"
(3) The act of attacking
"Attacks on women increased last year"
"They made an attempt on his life"
(4) Ideas or actions intended to deal with a problem or situation
"His approach to every problem is to draw up a list of pros and cons"
"An attack on inflation"
"His plan of attack was misguided"
(5) (military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons)
"The attack began at dawn"
(6) Strong criticism
"He published an unexpected attack on my work"
(7) Intense adverse criticism
"Clinton directed his fire at the Republican Party"
"The government has come under attack"
"Don't give me any flak"
(8) The onset of a corrosive or destructive process (as by a chemical agent)
"The film was sensitive to attack by acids"
"Open to attack by the elements"
(9) A sudden occurrence of an uncontrollable condition
"An attack of diarrhea"
verb
(10) Begin to injure
"The cancer cells are attacking his liver"
"Rust is attacking the metal"
(11) Set to work upon; turn one's energies vigorously to a task
"I attacked the problem as soon as I got out of bed"
(12) Attack in speech or writing
"The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker"
(13) Take the initiative and go on the offensive
"The Serbs attacked the village at night"
"The visiting team started to attack"
(14) Launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with
"Hitler attacked Poland on September 1, 1939 and started World War II"
"Serbian forces assailed Bosnian towns all week"
(15) Attack someone physically or emotionally
"The mugger assaulted the woman"
"Nightmares assailed him regularly"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
Borrowed from , which is derived from the French verb . Cognate with Italian and German .
Noun
- An attempt to cause damage or injury to, or to somehow detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault.
- A time in which one attacks. The offence of a battle.
- Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side.
- Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net.
- The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team.
- The sudden onset of a disease.
- The amount of time it takes for the volume of an audio signal to go from zero to maximum level (e.g. an audio waveform representing a snare drum hit would feature a very fast attack, whereas that of a wave washing to shore would feature a slow attack).
Verb
- To apply violent force to someone or something.
- To aggressively challenge a person, idea, etc., with words (particularly in newspaper headlines, because it typesets into less space than "criticize" or similar).
- To aim balls at the batsman’s wicket.
- To set a field, or bowl in a manner designed to get wickets.
- To bat aggressively, so as to score runs quickly.