Definitions for attack
əˈtækat·tack

Princeton's WordNet(1.33 / 3 votes)Rate this definition:

1. attack, onslaught, onset, onrushnoun

   (military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons)

   "the attack began at dawn"

2. attacknoun

   an offensive move in a sport or game

   "they won the game with a 10-hit attack in the 9th inning"

3. fire, attack, flak, flack, blastnoun

   intense adverse criticism

   "Clinton directed his fire at the Republican Party"; "the government has come under attack"; "don't give me any flak"

4. approach, attack, plan of attacknoun

   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. attack, attemptnoun

   the act of attacking

   "attacks on women increased last year"; "they made an attempt on his life"

6. attack, tone-beginningnoun

   a decisive manner of beginning a musical tone or phrase

7. attacknoun

   a sudden occurrence of an uncontrollable condition

   "an attack of diarrhea"

8. attacknoun

   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. attackverb

   strong criticism

   "he published an unexpected attack on my work"

10. attack, assailverb

    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"

11. attack, round, assail, lash out, snipe, assaultverb

    attack in speech or writing

    "The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker"

12. attack, aggressverb

    take the initiative and go on the offensive

    "The Serbs attacked the village at night"; "The visiting team started to attack"

13. assail, assault, set on, attackverb

    attack someone physically or emotionally

    "The mugger assaulted the woman"; "Nightmares assailed him regularly"

14. attackverb

    set to work upon; turn one's energies vigorously to a task

    "I attacked the problem as soon as I got out of bed"

15. attackverb

    begin to injure

    "The cancer cells are attacking his liver"; "Rust is attacking the metal"

Wiktionary(4.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. attacknoun

   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.

   They claimed the censorship of the article was an attack of free speech.

2. attacknoun

   A time in which one attacks. The offence of a battle.

   The army timed their attack to coincide with the local celebrations.

3. attacknoun

   Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side.

4. attacknoun

   Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net.

5. attacknoun

   The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team.

6. attacknoun

   The sudden onset of a disease.

   Iu00B4ve had an attack of the flu.

7. attacknoun

   An active episode of a chronic or recurrent disease.

8. attacknoun

   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).

9. attackverb

   To apply violent force to someone or something.

   This species of snake will only attack humans if it feels threatened.

10. attackverb

    To aggressively challenge a person, idea, etc., with words (particularly in newspaper headlines, because it typesets into less space than "criticize" or similar).

    She published an article attacking the recent pay cuts.

11. attackverb

    To deal with something undesirable in a direct way.

    Weu00B4ll have dinner before we attack the biology homework.

12. attackverb

    To aim balls at the batsman's wicket.

13. attackverb

    To set a field, or bowl in a manner designed to get wickets.

14. attackverb

    To bat aggressively, so as to score runs quickly.

15. attackverb

    To move forward in an attempt to actively score point, as opposed to trying not to concede.

16. Etymology: From attaque, derived from the verb attaquer, from attaccare used in attaccare battaglia, "to join battle". Cognate with Italian attacca and German Attacke.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Attacknoun

   An assault upon an enemy.

   Etymology: from the verb.

   Hector opposes, and continues the attack; in which, after many actions, Sarpedon makes the first breach in the wall. Alexander Pope, Iliad, argum. b. xii.

   If appriz’d of the severe attack,
   The country be shut up. James Thomson.

   I own ’twas wrong, when thousands call’d me back,
   To make that hopeless, ill-advis’d attack. Edward Young.

2. To ATTACKverb

   Etymology: attaquer, Fr.

   1. To assault an enemy; opposed to defence.

   The front, the rear
   Attack, while Yvo thunders in the center. Ambrose Philips, Briton.

   Those that attack, generally get the victory, though with disadvantage of ground. Richard Kane, Campaigns.

   2. To impugn in any manner, as with satire, confutation, calumny; as, the declaimer attacked the reputation of his adversaries.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Attackverb

   to fall upon with force; to assail, as with force and arms; to assault

2. Attackverb

   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. Attackverb

   to set to work upon, as upon a task or problem, or some object of labor or investigation

4. Attackverb

   to begin to affect; to begin to act upon, injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste

5. Attackverb

   to make an onset or attack

6. Attacknoun

   the act of attacking, or falling on with force or violence; an onset; an assault; -- opposed to defense

7. Attacknoun

   an assault upon one's feelings or reputation with unfriendly or bitter words

8. Attacknoun

   a setting to work upon some task, etc

9. Attacknoun

   an access of disease; a fit of sickness

10. Attacknoun

    the beginning of corrosive, decomposing, or destructive action, by a chemical agent

11. Etymology: [Cf. F. attaque.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Attack

   at-tak′, v.t. to fall upon violently: to assault: to assail with unfriendly words or writing: to begin to affect, fall upon (of diseases).—n. an assault or onset: the offensive part in any contest: the beginning of active operations on anything, even dinner: severe criticism or calumny.—adj. Attack′able. [Fr. attaquer. See Attach, of which it is a doublet.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. attack

   A general assault or onset upon an enemy. Also the arrangement for investment or battle. (See FALSE ATTACK.)

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. attack

   Any general assault or onset that is given to gain a post or break a body of troops. False attack, a feigned or secondary movement in the arrangements of an assault, intended to divert the attention of an enemy from the real or principal attack. Such a movement has been sometimes converted into a real attack, and succeeded when the main assault, to which it was intended to be subsidiary, had failed. Attack of a siege is a furious attack made by the besiegers by means of trenches, galleries, saps, breaches, or mines, etc., by storming any part of the front attack. To attack in front or flank, in fortifications, means to attack the salient angle, or both sides of the bastion.

Matched Categories

1. • Act
   • Affect
   • Affliction
   • Begin
   • Beginning
   • Conceptualization
   • Criticize
   • Degeneration
   • Fight
   • Turn

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'attack' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1322

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'attack' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2288

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'attack' in Nouns Frequency: #407

4. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'attack' in Verbs Frequency: #349

How to pronounce attack?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say attack in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of attack in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of attack in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of attack in a Sentence

1. Jacob George:

   By switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes we found an average percentage point improvement of 1.5 within just one month, and to put that into context, each percentage point improvement in vascular function results in a 13% reduction in cardiovascular event rates, such as heart attack.

2. Xiao Xu:

   When caring for younger patients with heart attack, especially younger women patients, we should look beyond their physical health and pay attention to their psychosocial status as well, although our study demonstrated a strong relationship between higher mental stress and worse recovery, we cannot make causal inferences.

3. Corry Bliss:

   CLF is going on offense and spending early to attack and define Democrats in House races across the country.

4. Daniel Pout:

   Pout, Daniel Pout, thinks Democratic Socialists of America might someday have a chance at building enough support to run candidates of Democratic Socialists of America own, under the Socialist Party banner. There’s an attack on the center, in both parties, on business-as-usual, jeff Flake, in my state, decided not to run again, Jeff Flake sees no way Jeff Flake can fight against this anti-establishment, anti-status-quo.

5. Ben Hodges:

   It doesn't guarantee that there's going to be another attack, but you would not execute another attack unless you have that in hand.

Popularity rank by frequency of use