attack

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English

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Etymology

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Borrowed fromFrenchattaque,derived from the verbattaquer,fromItalianattaccare(“to join, attach”)(used inattaccare battaglia(“to join battle”)), fromFrankish*stakka(“stick”).Doubletofattach.Displaced nativeOld Englishon rǣsan(“to attack”)andonrǣs(“an attack”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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attack(pluralattacks)

  1. Anattemptto causedamage,injuryto, ordeathof opponent or enemy.
    • 1983,Richard Ellis,The Book of Sharks,Knopf,→ISBN,page161:
      From 1906 to 1960, there were forty-six recorded sharkattacks,half of which were fatal.
    • 2013July 19,Mark Tran,“Denied an education by war”,inThe Guardian Weekly,volume189,number 6, page 1:
      One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation ofattackson schools[…]as children, teachers or school buildings become the targets ofattacks.Parents fear sending their children to school. Girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence.
    1. (gaming)Any of several specific maneuvers, skills, or special abilities that a character can use to inflict damage against opponents.
      • 2002March, Aaron Butler, “Mimesis Online (PC)”, inGameSpy.com‎[1],archived fromthe originalon2002-12-16:
        Combat inMimesis Onlineis nice and simple. You click on your target[…]and then keep right-clicking your chosenattackfrom the drop down menu. Every time you right click on theattack,your character will swing, shoot, etc.
      • 2022January 28, Chris Tapsell, “Pokémon Legends Arceus Kleavor boss fight: How to beat Kleavor”, inEurogamer.ner‎[2]:
        Kleavor has severalattacksthat it's worth roughly memorising: a chargeattack,where it runs at you quickly; a jumpattack,that causes a pillar of rock to spike out from under the ground; and a spinattackthat does damage in a circle around it.
  2. An attempt todetractfrom theworthorcredibilityof, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, byphysical,verbal,emotional,or otherassault.
    • 1913,Robert Barr,chapter 4, inLord Stranleigh Abroad‎[3]:
      “I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn’t I ?  Why didn’t I telephone ?  Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surpriseattack,and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape.…”
    They claimed the censorship of the article was anattackon free speech.
  3. A time in which one attacks; theoffenceof abattle.
    The army timed theirattackto coincide with the local celebrations.
  4. (informal,by extension)The beginning of active operations on anything.
    Having washed the plates from dinner, I made anattackon the laundry.
  6. (computing)An attempt toexploitavulnerabilityin a computer system.
    birthday attack;denial-of-service attack
  7. (cricket)Collectively,thebowlersof acricketside.
  8. (volleyball)Any contact with the ball other than aserveorblockwhich sends the ball across theplaneof the net.
    Synonyms:hit,spike
  9. (lacrosse)The threeattackmenon the field or all the attackmen of a team.
  10. (medicine)The suddenonsetof adiseaseorcondition.
    I've had anattackof the flu.
  11. An active episode of a chronic or recurrent disease.
  12. (music)Theonsetof a musical note, particularly with respect to the strength (and duration) of that onset.
    Antonyms:decay,release
    • 2004,Gary Giddins,Weather Bird: Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century,page322:
      Eric Reed was a curious choice as pianist, since his busy Petersonianattackis the antithesis of Lewis's, but he acquitted himself with panache,[…]
  13. (audio)Theamountof time taken for thevolumeof anaudiosignalto go from zero to maximum level (e.g. an audio waveform representing asnaredrum hit would feature a very fast attack, whereas that of a wavewashingto shore would feature a slow attack).
  14. (oenology)Theinitialsensoryimpactof awine.

Synonyms

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Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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attack(third-person singular simple presentattacks,present participleattacking,simple past and past participleattackedor(obsolete)attacktor(obsolete, dialectal)attackted)

  1. (transitive)Toapplyviolentforceto someone or something.
    This species of snake will onlyattackhumans if it feels threatened.
    • 1941December 8, PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt,0:00 from the start, inDay of Infamy Speech‎[4],Washington, D.C.,page 1:
      Yesterday, December seventh, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberatelyattackedby naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
  2. (transitive)Toaggressivelychallengea person, idea, etc., with words (particularly in newspaper headlines, because it typesets into less space than "criticize" or similar).
    She published an articleattackingthe recent pay cuts.
    • 1988December 11, John D'Emilio, “Enemies, Anger, and Militance”, inGay Community News,volume16,number22,page 5:
      It was puzzling to read a column that claimed to beattackingme, yet espoused the main ideas in my article.
    • 2012June 3, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992)”, inThe A.V. Club‎[5],Fusion Media Group:
      In its God-like prime, The Simpsonsattackedwell-worn satirical fodder from unexpected angles, finding fresh laughs in the hoariest of subjects.
  3. (transitive)To begin to affect; to act upon injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste.
  4. (transitive)Todeal withsomething in a direct way; to set to work upon.
    We’ll have dinner before weattackthe biology homework.
    Iattackedthe meal with a hearty appetite.
    • 1922,Joseph Hergesheimer,Mountain Blood‎[6]:
      He filled a basin with water, and, with an old brush and piece of sandsoap,attackedthe stove.
  5. (transitive,cricket)Toaimballs at thebatsman’swicket.
  6. (intransitive,cricket)Tosetafield,orbowlin amannerdesignedto get wickets.
  7. (intransitive,cricket)Tobataggressively,so as toscorerunsquickly.
  8. (soccer)To move forward in an active attempt to score a point, as opposed to trying not to concede.
    • 2011October 15, Michael Da Silva, “Wigan 1 - 3 Bolton”, inBBC Sport‎[7]:
      Six successive defeats had left them rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table but, clearly under instructions toattackfrom the outset, Bolton started far the brighter.
  9. (cycling)Toacceleratequickly in an attempt to get ahead of the otherriders.
  10. (physical chemistry)(Of a chemical species) To approach a chemical species or bond in order to form a bond with it.

Conjugation

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Conjugation ofattack
infinitive (to)attack
present tense past tense
1st-personsingularattack attacked
2nd-personsingular attack,attackest† attacked,attackedst†
3rd-personsingular attacks,attacketh† attacked
plural attack
subjunctive attack attacked
imperative attack —
participles attacking attacked

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adjective

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attack(notcomparable)

  1. Designed or kept for the purpose of confrontation.
    attack dog,attack ad

Further reading

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Swedish

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Etymology

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FromFrenchattaque.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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attackc

  1. attack;an attempt to cause damage
  2. attack;offense of a battle

Declension

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Declension ofattack
nominative genitive
singular indefinite attack attacks
definite attacken attackens
plural indefinite attacker attackers
definite attackerna attackernas

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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