assault
A violent onset or attack with physical means, for example blows, weapons, etc.
Example
“The army made an assault on the enemy.”
Other meanings
A violent verbal attack, for example with insults, criticism, and the like
“She launched a written assault on the opposition party.”
An attempt to commit battery: a violent attempt, or willful effort with force or violence, to do hurt to another, but without necessarily touching the person, such as by raising a fist in a threatening manner, or by striking at the person and missing.
Related words
- counterassault
- cyberassault
- microassault
- antiassault
- apesault
- nonassault
- reassault
- aggravated assault
- ag assault
- assault and battery
- assault at arms
- amphibious assault ship
Word history
From Latin "ad" (at, towards).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “assault” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.