What does assault mean?
Definitions for assault
əˈsɔltas·sault
Here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word assault.
Princeton's WordNet
assaultnoun
close fighting during the culmination of a military attack
assaultnoun
a threatened or attempted physical attack by someone who appears to be able to cause bodily harm if not stopped
Assaultnoun
thoroughbred that won the triple crown in 1946
rape, violation, assault, ravishmentverb
the crime of forcing a woman to submit to sexual intercourse against her will
assail, assault, set on, attackverb
attack someone physically or emotionally
"The mugger assaulted the woman"; "Nightmares assailed him regularly"
rape, ravish, violate, assault, dishonor, dishonour, outrageverb
force (someone) to have sex against their will
"The woman was raped on her way home at night"
attack, round, assail, lash out, snipe, assaultverb
attack in speech or writing
"The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker"
Wiktionary
assaultnoun
A violent onset or attack with physical means, as blows, weapons, etc.; an onslaught; the rush or charge of an attacking force; onset; as, to make assault upon a man, a house, or a town.
assaultnoun
A violent onset or attack with moral weapons, as words, arguments, appeals, and the like; as, to make an assault on the prerogatives of a prince, or on the constitution of a government.
assaultnoun
An attempt to commit battery: a violent attempt, or willful effort with force or violence, to do hurt to another, but without necessarily touching his person, as by lifting a fist in a threatening manner, or by striking at him and missing him.
assaultnoun
The crime whose action is such an attempt.
assaultnoun
An act that causes someone to apprehend imminent bodily harm.
assaultnoun
The tort whose action is such an act.
assaultnoun
A non-competitive combat between two fencers.
assaultverb
To attack, threaten or harass.
Etymology: From noun asault, from the verb asaillir, from assilio, from ad + salio. See also assail.
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
ASSAULTnoun
Etymology: assault, French.
Her spirit had been invincible against all assaults of affection. William Shakespeare, Much ado about Nothing.
Not to be shook thyself, but all assaults
Baffling, like thy hoar cliffs the loud sea wave. James Thomson.Jason took at least a thousand men, and suddenly made an assault upon the city. 2 Macc. v. 5.
After some days siege, he resolved to try the fortune of an assault; he succeeded therein so far, that he had taken the principal tower and fort. Francis Bacon, Henry VII.
Themselves at discord fell,
And cruel combat join’d in middle space,
With horrible assault, and fury fell. Fairy Queen, b. ii.After some unhappy assaults upon the prerogative by the parliament, which produced its dissolution, there followed a composure. Edward Hyde.
Theories built upon narrow foundations, are very hard to be supported against the assaults of opposition. John Locke.
To Assaultverb
To attack; to invade; to fall upon with violence.
Etymology: from the noun.
The king granted the Jews to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy all the power that would assault them. Esth. viii. 11.
Before the gates the cries of babes new-born,
Whom fate had from their tender mothers torn,
Assault his ears. John Dryden, Æneid vi.Curs’d steel, and more accursed gold,
Gave mischief birth, and made that mischief bold:
And double death did wretched man invade,
By steel assaulted, and by gold betray’d. John Dryden, Ovid.
Webster Dictionary
Assaultnoun
a violent onset or attack with physical means, as blows, weapons, etc.; an onslaught; the rush or charge of an attacking force; onset; as, to make assault upon a man, a house, or a town
Assaultnoun
a violent onset or attack with moral weapons, as words, arguments, appeals, and the like; as, to make an assault on the prerogatives of a prince, or on the constitution of a government
Assaultnoun
an apparently violent attempt, or willful offer with force or violence, to do hurt to another; an attempt or offer to beat another, accompanied by a degree of violence, but without touching his person, as by lifting the fist, or a cane, in a threatening manner, or by striking at him, and missing him. If the blow aimed takes effect, it is a battery
Assaultnoun
to make an assault upon, as by a sudden rush of armed men; to attack with unlawful or insulting physical violence or menaces
Assaultnoun
to attack with moral means, or with a view of producing moral effects; to attack by words, arguments, or unfriendly measures; to assail; as, to assault a reputation or an administration
Freebase
Assault
At Common Law, an intentional act by one person that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent harmful or offensive contact. An assault is carried out by a threat of bodily harm coupled with an apparent, present ability to cause the harm. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in either criminal or civil liability. Generally, the common law definition is the same in criminal and Tort Law. There is, however, an additional Criminal Law category of assault consisting of an attempted but unsuccessful Battery. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more limited sense of a threat of violence caused by an immediate show of force. Assault in some US jurisdictions and Scotland is defined more broadly still as any intentional physical contact with another person without their consent; but in the majority of the United States, and in England and Wales and all other common law jurisdictions in the world, this is defined instead as battery. Some jurisdictions have incorporated the definition of civil assault into the definition of the crime making it a criminal assault to intentionally cause another person to apprehend a harmful or offensive contact.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Assault
as-sawlt′, n. a sudden attack: a storming, as of a town: (Eng. law) unlawful attempt to apply force to the person of another—when force is actually applied, the act amounts to battery: an attack of any sort by arguments, appeals, &c.—v.t. to make an assault or attack upon: (law) to make an assault.—n. Assault′er.—Assault at arms, a display of attack and defence in fencing. [O. Fr. asaut—L. ad, upon, saltus, a leap, salīre, to leap. See Assail.]
Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms
assault
1. The climax of an attack, closing with the enemy in hand-to-hand fighting. 2. In an amphibious operation, the period of time between the arrival of the major assault forces of the amphibious task force in the objective area and the accomplishment of the amphibious task force mission. 3. To make a short, violent, but well-ordered attack against a local objective, such as a gun emplacement, a fort, or a machine gun nest. 4. A phase of an airborne operation beginning with delivery by air of the assault echelon of the force into the objective area and extending through attack of assault objectives and consolidation of the initial airhead. See also assault phase.
Dictionary of Nautical Terms
assault
A hostile attack. The effort to storm a place, and gain possession of a post by main force.
Military Dictionary and Gazetteer
assault
A furious but regulated effort to carry a fortified post, camp, or fortress by personal attack, uncovered and unsupported. While an assault during a siege continues, the batteries of the besiegers cease, lest the attacking party should be injured. The party which leads the assault is sometimes called “the forlorn hope.”
Suggested Resources
assault
Song lyrics by assault -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by assault on the Lyrics.com website.
Matched Categories
British National Corpus
Spoken Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'assault' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #4158
Nouns Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'assault' in Nouns Frequency: #1536
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of assault in Chaldean Numerology is: 3
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of assault in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3
Examples of assault in a Sentence
>( CNN) Bill Cosby has replaced his entire defense team ahead of his sentencing hearing in September.Cosby's attorney, Tom Mesereau, and the rest of his defense team were replaced by attorney Joseph P. Green, the comedian's spokesman Andrew Wyatt said. Andrew Wyatt did not elaborate on the reason for the change.CNN reached out to Green for comment but has not yet received a response.Cosby was found guilty in April of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in a Philadelphia suburb in 2004. Read MoreThe 80-year-old comedian is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on September 24. He faces up to 10 years in prison on each count, although the actual sentence is likely to be much shorter.The verdict came a year after Cosby's previous trial ended in a mistrial, as a different panel of jurors said they were deadlocked and could not unanimously agree on a verdict. What the case was aboutThe case against Bill Cosby centered on testimony from Constand, a former employee with Temple University women's basketball team. She testified that Bill Cosby, a powerful trustee at Temple University, drugged her and sexually assaulted her when she visited Bill Cosby home to ask for career advice 14 years ago.The trial had the.
Ma’am, you were arrested for burglary with an assault or battery, strong armed robbery with an aggravated battery and child abuse. I will appoint the public defender’s office for you.
We are under assault, order needs to be restored.
Having President Biden as a part of the summit is critical to elevating the importance of sexual assault prevention for our students and university administrations, it's important that students know President Biden has their back when it comes to campus sexual assault prevention and survivor support.
I want to be very clear. I stand for any and all victims of sexual abuse or assault, as a survivor and someone who has been fighting for this to become a focal topic of our society for decades and is fighting diligently to abolish the statutes of limitations across the country, I applaud all victims for letting their voices be heard and I encourage the public debate to continue.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
Translations for assault
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- اعتداء, اِقْتِحامArabic
- щурмувам, нападение, щурм, атакувам, атакаBulgarian
- überfallen, Anschlag, angreifenGerman
- sturmoEsperanto
- atacar, acometimiento, asalto, asaltarSpanish
- یورش, تجاوزPersian
- agression, attaquer, assautFrench
- megtámadHungarian
- áhlaupIcelandic
- assalto, attaccare, molestare, assalire, attacco, aggredire, aggressioneItalian
- 突撃, 攻撃, 攻めるJapanese
- თავდასხმაGeorgian
- assultōLatin
- taiapuMāori
- aanranden, vergrijpen, aanrandingDutch
- voldtaNorwegian
- napaśćPolish
- assaltoPortuguese
- напасть, штурм, атаковать, атака, нападение, штурмовать, нападатьRussian
- saldırıTurkish
- حملہUrdu
Get even more translations for assault »
Translation
Find a translation for the assault definition in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Word of the Day
Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?
Citation
Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"assault." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 6 Feb. 2023. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/assault>.
Discuss these assault definitions with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In