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onslaught

[on-slawt, awn-]

noun

an onset, assault, or attack, especially a vigorous one.

Origin:
1615–25; < Dutch aanslag a striking, (earlier) attack (equivalent to aan on + slag blow, stroke; akin to slay), with assimilation to obsolete slaught slaughter

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To onslaught

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Onslaught is always a great word to know.

So is callithumpian. Does it mean:

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

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Example Sentences

But taken as a whole the recent onslaught of zombie fiction is wearying.

His cellular plan included unlimited text messages, so the onslaught did not run up his bill.

Several property and casualty insurers collapsed under the onslaught of claims.

EXPAND

But taken as a whole the recent onslaught of zombie fiction is wearying.

His cellular plan included unlimited text messages, so the onslaught did not run up his bill.

Several property and casualty insurers collapsed under the onslaught of claims.

Just a few years ago such an onslaught of questions would have sent students scrambling for an atlas and encyclopedia set.

Such a movie might suggest ways to protect the solid from the neutron onslaught.

And don't think that the ocean is off limits to gravity's onslaught.

But since the news broke several weeks ago, it has prompted an onslaught of media attention.

One theory blames oxidative stress, caused by the onslaught of nasty molecules known as free radicals.

The tourism dollars are a boon to the region's economy, but an onslaught of snorkelers and divers has taken a damaging toll.

Let's talk about a few of those to help prepare our listeners for the coming holiday and/or family onslaught.

In this game, you defend your makeship fort from an onslaught of zombies, upgrading your weaponry and recruiting fellow survivors.

The onslaught grew so large that it went viral-live.

Commoditised products are especially vulnerable to the onslaught of retailers' own brands.

Neither the traditions, nor the species may persist when challenged with the onslaught of industrial development.

Let the user decide first whether he/she wants the audio onslaught.

Central government will essentially break down in the face of a libertarian technological onslaught.

Any incident generates an onslaught of regulations and witch hunts.

But he could not survive the onslaught of people's rousing wave of discontent and anger per se.

Yams to slow the onslaught of hot flashes during menopause.

But few measures, no matter how financially flush their campaigns, can survive an onslaught of negative advertising.

Never mind the fact that no one was hurt by the onslaught of ones and zeros.

Perhaps those of you in less trendy parts of the country will be spared this onslaught.

For the moment, though, dealmakers big and small are trying to stand united in the face of an onslaught.

Completing the cycle of the seasons, a leafless maple bears up under the onslaught of winter.

We adapt to the onslaught and continue to proliferate.

He wasn't prepared for the onslaught of traffic that was prompted, naturally enough, by mentions on a host of weblogs.

There are indications that absent a big letup in the onslaught of change, they will slowly be bowled over.

Each then opened the front door to a waist-deep onslaught of dirty seawater.

Other grave problems stem from the onslaught of seawater laden with sediments and toxins.

Maybe it has more to do with conversational taboos dissolving under the onslaught of millions of women with internet connections.

Thanks to human evolution, our sense of smell quickly adapts to the sudden onslaught.

It requires quite a bit of courage to face this relentless onslaught of intolerance.

With little ventilation in the room, the onslaught is nearly unbearable if you aren't used to it.

And so the wholesale onslaught on phthalates continues.

Hobbled donkeys cower under a new onslaught of rain, ears back, necks craned.

First comes an onslaught of antibodies soon after any familiar virus is detected in the bloodstream.

Its job, on a continuous basis, is to compute a huge onslaught of incoming data.

For the last two years she has had to fight off an onslaught of breakouts.

The violent water and black clouds merged under the onslaught of a driving snowstorm.

But while shark attacks against humans are relatively rare, the human onslaught on shark populations is another matter.

One big squeeze and you can ambush your office mates with a non-stop onslaught of pink foam darts.

Rivera takes the onslaught of the managed care profiteers personally.

Her campaign has repeatedly stressed her strength in the face of the all-male onslaught.

The event that sparked this digital onslaught had occurred a few days earlier.

To keep fully on top of this onslaught is both difficult and foolhardy.

They were so successful because they helped people manage the onslaught of information brought on by the printing press.

Smith publicizes this discovery, leading to a barrage of media attention and an onslaught of get-rich-quick entrepreneurs.

Western finance faces an onslaught of regulation and is likely to stagnate.

He and his band may have played a ballad, but it was quickly forgotten in the onslaught of notes.

But sceptics say it is unlikely to survive the onslaught of the real world.

But so far the software doesn't know what to look for amid this onslaught of variables.

Nothing less than a relentless onslaught of questions from the press is required.

The pueblo highlights the difficulty of a traditional community to withstand the onslaught of tourist hordes.

Restaurants and antique shops have also opened in anticipation of a hoped-for onslaught of visitors.

He cannot survive the onslaught that will be taken by the coalition if he decides to continue to fight.

The onslaught of annoying commercials, banners and other junk is coming.

The onslaught left them dangling precariously over the bay and within inches of plunging in and being swept away.

The smaller white absorbant booms look completely blackened by the onslaught of crude oil collecting at the water's surface.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

onslaught (ˈɒnˌslɔːt)

—n
	a violent attack

[C17: from Middle Dutch aenslag, from aanon + slag a blow, related to slay]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

onslaught

1625, anslaight, somehow from or on analogy of Du. aanslag "attack," from M.Du. aenslach, from aen "on" + slach "blow," related to slaen "slay." Spelling infl. by obs. (since c.1400) Eng. slaught (n.) "slaughter," from O.E. sleaht (see slaughter). No record of its use

EXPAND

in 18c.; apparently revived by Scott.

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Matching Quote

"Firm, faithful, and devoted, full of energy and zeal, and truth, he labours for his race; he clears their painful way to improvement; he hews down like a giant the prejudices of creed and caste that encumber it. He may be stern; he may be exacting; he may be ambitious yet; but his is the sternness of the warrior Greatheart, who guards his pilgrim convoy from the onslaught of Apollyon. His is the exaction of the apostle, who speaks but for Christ, when he says, "Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." His is the ambition of the high master-spirit, which aims to fill a place in the first rank of those who are redeemed from the earth—who stand without fault before the throne of God, who share the last mighty victories of the Lamb, who are called, and chosen, and faithful."

-Charlotte Brontë

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onslaught

on·slaught