Word Meanings - ATTACK - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. To fall upon with force; to assail, as with force and arms; to assault. "Attack their lines." Dryden. 2. To assail with unfriendly speech or writing; to begin a controversy with; to attempt to overthrow or bring into disrepute, by criticism

Additional info about word: ATTACK

1. To fall upon with force; to assail, as with force and arms; to assault. "Attack their lines." Dryden. 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. Macaulay. Hydrofluoric acid . . . attacks the glass. B. Stewart. Syn. -- 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 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.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of ATTACK)

• Aggression
• Invasion
• attack
• offence
• onslaught
• encroachment
• assault
• provocation
• incursion
• Asperse
• Slander
• calumniate
• bespatter
• befoul
• defy
• defame
• vilify
• traduce
• scandalize
• malign
• detract from
• blacken
• tarnish
• backbite
• Assault
• Onset
• aggression
• Attempt
• Try
• endeavor
• strive
• undertake
• seek
• essay
• violate
• force
• Brunt
• Impulse
• onset
• shock

Related words: (words related to ATTACK)

• FORCE
  To stuff; to lard; to farce. Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit. Shak.
• MALIGNANT
  Tending to produce death; threatening a fatal issue; virulent; as, malignant diphtheria. Malignant pustule , a very contagious disease, transmitted to man from animals, characterized by the formation, at the point of reception of the virus, of
• MALIGNITY
  1. The state or quality of being malignant; disposition to do evil; virulent enmity; malignancy; malice; spite. 2. Virulence; deadly quality. His physicians discerned an invincible malignity in his disease. Hayward. 3. Extreme evilness of nature
• TRADUCENT
  Slanderous. Entick.
• DEFAMER
  One who defames; a slanderer; a detractor; a calumniator.
• BLACKEN
  Etym: 1. To make or render black. While the long funerals blacken all the way. Pope 2. To make dark; to darken; to cloud. "Blackened the whole heavens." South. 3. To defame; to sully, as reputation; to make infamous; as, vice blackens
• ASSAULTABLE
  Capable of being assaulted.
• SLANDEROUS
  1. Given or disposed to slander; uttering slander. "Slanderous tongue." Shak. 2. Embodying or containing slander; calumnious; as, slanderous words, speeches, or reports. -- Slan"der*ous*ly, adv. -- Slan"der*ous*ness, n.
• TRADUCEMENT
  The act of traducing; misrepresentation; ill-founded censure; defamation; calumny. Shak.
• ESSAYER
  One who essays. Addison.
• DETRACTIVE
  1. Tending to detractor draw. 2. Tending to lower in estimation; depreciative.
• ONSLAUGHT
  1. An attack; an onset; esp., a furious or murderous attack or assault. By storm and onslaught to proceed. Hudibras. 2. A bloody fray or battle. Jamieson.
• SHOCKDOG
  See 1
• DETRACTIVENESS
  The quality of being detractive.
• ESSAY
  A composition treating of any particular subject; -- usually shorter and less methodical than a formal, finished treatise; as, an essay on the life and writings of Homer; an essay on fossils, or on commerce. 3. An assay. See Assay, n.
• DETRACTINGLY
  In a detracting manner.
• SCANDALIZE
  1. To offend the feelings of the conscience of by some action which is considered immoral or criminal; to bring shame, disgrace, or reproach upon. I demand who they are whom we scandalize by using harmless things. Hooker. the congregation looked
• ATTEMPTER
  1. One who attempts; one who essays anything. 2. An assailant; also, a temper.
• FORCEPS
  The caudal forceps-shaped appendage of earwigs and some other insects. See Earwig. Dressing forceps. See under Dressing. (more info) 1. A pair of pinchers, or tongs; an instrument for grasping, holding firmly, or exerting traction upon, bodies
• MALIGNANCE; MALIGNANCY
  Virulence; tendency to a fatal issue; as, the malignancy of an ulcer or of a fever. 4. The state of being a malignant. Syn. -- Malice; malevolence; malignity. See Malice. (more info) 1. The state or quality of being malignant; extreme malevolence;
• REINFORCEMENT
  See REëNFORCEMENT
• DEFORCEOR
  See DEFORCIANT
• DEFORCE
  To keep from the rightful owner; to withhold wrongfully the possession of, as of lands or a freehold. To resist the execution of the law; to oppose by force, as an officer in the execution of his duty. Burrill.
• REENFORCE
  To strengthen with new force, assistance, material, or support; as, to reënforce an argument; to reënforce a garment; especially, to strengthen with additional troops, as an army or a fort, or with additional ships, as a fleet.