different between attack vs assailing

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French attaque, derived from the verb attaquer, from Italian attaccare (“to join, attach”) (used in attaccare battaglia (“to join battle”)), from Frankish *stakka (“stick”). Doublet of attach.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US, General Australian) IPA^(key): /??tæk/, [??t?æk]
• Rhymes: -æk

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.

3. A time in which one attacks; the offence of a battle.

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.

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

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).

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:attack

Hyponyms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

attack (third-person singular simple present attacks, present participle attacking, simple past and past participle attacked)

1. (transitive) To apply violent force to someone or something.

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).
3. (transitive) To begin to affect; to act upon injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste.
   • 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.

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. (chemistry) (Of a chemical species) To approach a chemical species or bond in order to form a bond with it.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:attack

Translations

Further reading

• attack in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• attack in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• attack at OneLook Dictionary Search

Swedish

Etymology

From French attaque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?tak/

Noun

attack c

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

Declension

Synonyms

• anfall

Related terms

• attackera

Derived terms

• hjärtattack

Anagrams

• tackat

English

Verb

assailing

1. present participle of assail

Anagrams

• aliasings

Middle English

Alternative forms

• a-saylynge, assailinge, asaylyng, assaylyng, assaylinge, assailyng, asayling, saylyng, sailyng, saylyng, sayllyng, seylinge, sayllyng

Etymology

From assailen +? -ing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?s?i?lin?/, /?s?i?lin?/

Noun

assailing (plural assailynges)

1. A charge or siege laid by an army.
2. The tempting, assault or luring of malign forces.
3. (rare) Insults, harsh words, verbal assault.
4. (rare) Assailing, striking; entering into combat.

References

• “assail(l)ing, ger.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-17.
• “sailing(e, ger.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-17.