assault
a sudden, violent attack; onslaught: an assault on tradition.
Law. an unlawful physical attack upon another; an attempt or offer to do violence to another, with or without battery, as by holding a stone or club in a threatening manner.
Military. the stage of close combat in an attack.
to make an assault upon; attack; assail.
Origin of assault
1synonym study For assault
Other words for assault
Other words from assault
- as·sault·a·ble, adjective
- as·sault·er, noun
- coun·ter·as·sault, verb (used with object), noun
- non·as·sault, noun
- un·as·sault·a·ble, adjective
- un·as·sault·ed, adjective
Words that may be confused with assault
- assault , battery
Words Nearby assault
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use assault in a sentence
At least two more women have since come forward with similar allegations of assault.
ICE Deported a Woman Who Accused Guards of Sexual Assault While the Feds Were Still Investigating the Incident | by Lomi Kriel | September 15, 2020 | ProPublicaThis can buy time for B and T cells from the adaptive immune system to multiply into an army that can deliver a more precise and devastating assault if one is needed.
‘Trained Immunity’ Offers Hope in Fight Against Coronavirus | Esther Landhuis | September 14, 2020 | Quanta MagazineHarvey Weinstein was fighting criminal charges for a pattern of behavior that included hotel room assaults.
The Woman Propositioned by Alaska’s Former Lieutenant Governor Tells Her Story for the First Time | by Kyle Hopkins and Michelle Theriault Boots, Anchorage Daily News | September 10, 2020 | ProPublicaThe order called for a multi-agency assault on Section 230, involving the commerce and justice departments, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission.
Why the most controversial US internet law is worth saving | Amy Nordrum | September 9, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewCalifornia is a bright, shining example that you can build a humming engine of economic growth, even in a state that embraces relatively high taxes and progressive values—an unforgivable assault on conservative worldviews.
But damn, the music is catchy—a neo-soul aural assault of horns, electro swirls, yelps, funky basslines, and harmonized vocals.
The 14 Best Songs of 2014: Bobby Shmurda, Future Islands, Drake, and More | Marlow Stern | December 31, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTLuckily, Tor was prepared for this sort of assault, and has built-in defenses to protect against it.
It was like a constant assault, an almost stupefying catalogue of mindless racial insult and injury.
How Martin Luther King Jr. Influenced Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ | Peter Guralnick | December 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFor his tireless assault on evolutionary biology and downsizing the deity to fit within science, I give Meyer second place.
In their midst stands a soldier with the Lebanese armed forces in a red beret, sporting an assault rifle and an unblinking stare.
A Sunni-Shia Love Story Imperiled by al Qaeda | Ruth Michaelson | December 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe case was an assault and battery that came off between two men named Brown and Henderson.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; | VariousPat Malone, you are fined five dollars for assault and battery on Mike Sweeney.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; | VariousHe made a violent assault against the nation of his enemies, and in the descent he destroyed the adversaries.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version | VariousThe imperialists under the duke of Bourbon, took Rome by assault and plundered it.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel MunsellEdwin had to brace himself again, for an assault upon the fastness of the stationmaster.
Hilda Lessways | Arnold Bennett
British Dictionary definitions for assault
/ (əˈsɔːlt) /
a violent attack, either physical or verbal
law an intentional or reckless act that causes another person to expect to be subjected to immediate and unlawful violence: Compare battery (def. 4), assault and battery
the culmination of a military attack, in which fighting takes place at close quarters
(as modifier): assault troops
rape or attempted rape
to make an assault upon
to rape or attempt to rape
Origin of assault
1Derived forms of assault
- assaulter, noun
- assaultive, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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