Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To set upon with violent force.
- intransitive verb To criticize strongly or in a hostile manner.
- intransitive verb To start work on with purpose and vigor.
- intransitive verb To act on in a detrimental way; cause harm to.
- intransitive verb To play (the ball) aggressively, especially by moving toward it rather than by waiting for it to arrive.
- intransitive verb To move toward (the goal) on an offensive play, as in lacrosse.
- intransitive verb In volleyball, to hit (the ball) forcefully over the net.
- intransitive verb To make a sudden, intense effort to pass (a competitor in a race).
- intransitive verb To make an attack; launch an assault.
- intransitive verb To make a play on offense; attempt to score.
- intransitive verb To make a sudden, intense effort to pull ahead in a race.
- noun The act or an instance of attacking; an assault.
- noun An expression of strong criticism; hostile comment.
- noun Offensive play, especially in lacrosse.
- noun An offensive play.
- noun The players executing such a play.
- noun Scoring ability or potential.
- noun A forceful shot over the net in volleyball.
- noun A sudden, intense effort to pull ahead in a race.
- noun The initial movement in a task or undertaking.
- noun A method or procedure.
- noun An episode or onset of a disease, especially an occurrence of a chronic disease.
- noun The experience or beginning of a feeling, need, or desire.
- noun Music The beginning or manner of beginning a piece, passage, or tone.
- noun Decisiveness and clarity in artistic expression.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A falling on with force or violence, or with calumny, satire, or criticism; an onset; an assault.
- noun Battle generally; fight.
- noun An onset of any kind; the initial movement in any active proceeding or contest, as a game of chess, cricket, etc.; in music, specifically, the act (with reference to the manner) of beginning a piece, passage, or phrase, especially by an orchestra.
- noun The aggressive part of the art of fencing: opposed to defense.
- noun A seizure by a disease; the onset of a disease.
- To assault; fall upon with force; assail, as with force and arms; begin hostilities against.
- To endeavor to injure, overthrow, or bring into discredit by any act or proposal, or by unfriendly words or writing, whether by satire, calumny, criticism, or argument: as, to
attack a religious belief or a legislative measure; to attack a man or his opinions in a newspaper. - To make an onset or attempt upon, in a general sense; begin action upon or in regard to; set about or upon: as, to
attack a piece of work or a problem, or (humorously) the dinner. - To begin to affect; come or fall upon; seize: said of diseases and other destructive agencies: as, yesterday he was attacked by fever; caries attacked the bones; locusts attacked the crops. Specifically In chem., to cause to decompose or dissolve.
- Synonyms Set upon, Fall upon, etc. (see
assail ), assault, beset, besiege, beleaguer, charge upon, engage, challenge, combat. To impugn, criticize, censure. - To make an attack or onset: as, the enemy attacked with great boldness.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act of attacking, or falling on with force or violence; an onset; an assault; -- opposed to defense.
- noun An assault upon one's feelings or reputation with unfriendly or bitter words.
- noun A setting to work upon some task, etc.
- noun An access of disease; a fit of sickness.
- noun The beginning of corrosive, decomposing, or destructive action, by a chemical agent.
- transitive verb To fall upon with force; to assail, as with force and arms; to assault.
- transitive verb 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.
- transitive verb To set to work upon, as upon a task or problem, or some object of labor or investigation.
- transitive verb To begin to affect; to begin to act upon, injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But to cover a real attack on an angle, cavalry sometimes makes a _false attack_ on the front of a square.
A Treatise on the Tactical Use of the Three Arms: Infantry, Artillery, and Cavalry 1857
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What's striking is that while everybody recognizes that Estrich's hysterical in both meanings of the term attack on Michael Kinsley was pure menopausal hot flash, the Axiom of Equality -- the assumption that any inequality disfavoring non-white males is the product of discrimination and must be alleviated -- is so engrained in public discourse that you just know Estrich is going to win in the end.
Heather MacDonald on "Diversity Mongers Target the Web" on NRO: Steve Sailer 2005
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What's striking is that while everybody recognizes that Estrich's hysterical in both meanings of the term attack on Michael Kinsley was pure menopausal hot flash, the Axiom of Equality -- the assumption that any inequality disfavoring non-white males is the product of discrimination and must be alleviated -- is so engrained in public discourse that you just know Estrich is going to win in the end.
Archive 2005-03-27 Steve Sailer 2005
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The Portuguese driver will have a very busy March, with about 10 days of testing for the season, getting ready for the title attack on the European Formula Renault 2.0, title which belongs to his team Motopark Academy.
Motorsport.com: news 2009
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This attack is all the more insidious because "Catholics" are at the forefront of using their positions of power to try to destroy the Church.
AP: Pro-abortion Gov. Kathleen Sebelius tapped to lead HHS 2009
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So the attack is then set up thus: pick an upper class trait for maximum rhetorical effect and then describe those who would look down on you thusly.
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This attack is the latest in a series of systematic attacks against Nigerians of the Niger Delta which has been on going for the past 20 years from Babaginda, Abacha, Obasanjo and now this pathetic individual who calls himself President when in fact he was never even elected - unless you call rigging an election a legal process.
Archive 2009-06-01 2009
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So the attack is then set up thus: pick an upper class trait for maximum rhetorical effect and then describe those who would look down on you thusly.
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This attack is the latest in a series of systematic attacks against Nigerians of the Niger Delta which has been on going for the past 20 years from Babaginda, Abacha, Obasanjo and now this pathetic individual who calls himself President when in fact he was never even elected - unless you call rigging an election a legal process.
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But the attack is a campaign tactic that has been used many times.
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It’s a chess meme called the “bongcloud attack:. It’s called that because you’d have to be stoned to try it. Basically, it’s just an incredibly stupid opening chess move.
I totally haven’t forgot how to be a human Ryan Broderick 2023
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That opens a new avenue to what the security industry calls an "evil maid attack," the threat of any hacker who can get alone time with a computer in, say, a hotel room.
Thunderbolt Flaws Expose Millions of PCs to Hands-On Hacking Condé Nast 2020
seanahan commented on the word attack
Used to describe an aggressive opening in chess.
February 21, 2007