English
attack
Etymology

Borrowed from French attaque, derived from the verb attaquer, from Italian attaccare (used in attaccare battaglia), from Frankish *stakka.

Pronunciation
  • (British, America, Australia) IPA: /əˈtæk/
Noun

attack (plural attacks)

  1. An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of opponent or enemy.
  2. An attempt to detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault.
    They claimed the censorship of the article was an attack on free speech.
  3. A time in which one attacks; the offence of a battle.
    The army timed their attack to coincide with the local celebrations.
  4. (informal, by extension) The beginning of active operations on anything.
    Having washed the plates from dinner, I made an attack on the laundry.
  5. (computing) An attempt to exploit a vulnerability in a computer system.
    birthday attack; denial-of-service attack
  6. (cricket) Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side.
  7. (volleyball) Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net.
    Synonyms: hit, spike
  8. (lacrosse) The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team.
  9. (medicine) The sudden onset of a disease or condition.
    I've had an attack of the flu.
  10. An active episode of a chronic or recurrent disease.
  11. (music) The onset of 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, page 322:
      Eric Reed was a curious choice as pianist, since his busy Petersonian attack is the antithesis of Lewis's, but he acquitted himself with panache, […]
  12. (audio) The amount of time it takes for the volume of an audio signal to go from zero to maximum level (e.g. an audio waveform representing a snare drum hit would feature a very fast attack, whereas that of a wave washing to shore would feature a slow attack).
  13. (gaming) One of several specific maneuvers, skills, or special abilities that a character can use to inflict damage against opponents.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

attack (attacks, present participle attacking; simple past and past participle attacked)

  1. (transitive) To apply violent force to someone or something.
    This species of snake will only attack humans if it feels threatened.
  2. (transitive) To aggressively challenge a person, idea, etc., with words (particularly in newspaper headlines, because it typesets into less space than "criticize" or similar).
    She published an article attacking the recent pay cuts.
  3. (transitive) To begin to affect; to act upon injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste.
    • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 25, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC ↗:
      On the fourth of March he was attacked by fever.
    • 1866, Balfour Stewart, An Elementary Treatise on Heat:
      Hydrofluoric acid […] attacks the glass.
  4. (transitive) To deal with something in a direct way; to set to work upon.
    We’ll have dinner before we attack the biology homework.
    I attacked the meal with a hearty appetite.
  5. (transitive, cricket) To aim balls at the batsman’s wicket.
  6. (intransitive, cricket) To set a field, or bowl in a manner designed to get wickets.
  7. (intransitive, cricket) To bat aggressively, so as to score runs quickly.
  8. (soccer) To move forward in an active attempt to score a point, as opposed to trying not to concede.
  9. (cycling) To accelerate quickly in an attempt to get ahead of the other riders.
  10. (physical chemistry) (Of a chemical species) To approach a chemical species or bond in order to form a bond with it.
Conjugation
Conjugation of attack

infinitive (to) attack
present tense past tense
1st-person singular attack attacked
2nd-person singular

 attack, attackest†

 attacked, attackedst†
3rd-person singular

 attacks, attacketh†

 attacked
plural

 attack

subjunctive

 attack

attacked
imperative

 attack

—
participles

 attacking

 attacked

†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Adjective

attack (not comparable)

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


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