Attack

Noun

 * 1) An attempt to cause damage or injury to, or to somehow detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault.
 * 2) A time in which one attacks.  The offence of a battle.
 * 3)  Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side.
 * 4)  Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net.
 * 5)  The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team.
 * 6)  The sudden onset of a disease.
 * 7)  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).

Verb

 * 1)  To apply violent force to someone or something.
 * 2)  To aggressively challenge a person, idea, etc., with words (particularly in newspaper headlines, because it typesets into less space than "criticize" or similar).
 * 3)  To aim balls at the batsman’s wicket.
 * 4)  To set a field, or bowl in a manner designed to get wickets.
 * 5)  To bat aggressively, so as to score runs quickly.

Adjectives for Attack
smashing; savage; murderous; fiery; bold; homicidal; ripping; bulldog; tearing; deadly; devastating; ruthless; angry; fierce; brutal; reckless; terrific; treacherous; scathing; hurricane; severe; damaging; formidable; desperate; prolonged; diplomatic;merciless; literary; hand-to-hand; journalistic; verbal; demagogic; vehement; unrestrained; incessant;  determined; inexorable;  rapid; zestful; impetuous; correct; serious; unexpected; direct; surprise; resounding;  logical; vague; mysterious; provocative;  sudden; well-organized; sustained; wide-spread; subtle; persisting; counter; organized; vigorous; withering; open; pulmonary; precipitate; simultaneous; scientific; bitter; damaging; crushing; unprovoked;  whirlwind; strategic; oblique; furious; hysterical;   peculiar; systematic; secular; outside; ordered; infantry; desultory; threatened; blasphemous; lawless; decisive; barbarous; noisy; seditious; premature; subsequent; convulsive; contemplated; nocturnal; burglarous; unjust; Insidious; unfortunate; indiscriminate; ill-natured; abrupt; outrageous; immediate; tumultuous; abortive; violent; ignoble; frontal; satirical;  tireless; sagacious; spasmodic; censurable; epileptoid; premeditated; venomous.

Verbs for Attack
anticipate—; avert—; block—; blunt—;carry—; change—; characterize—; conceive—; concentrate—; consolidate—; counter—;cure of—; defy—; desist from—; direct—;dislodge—; divert—; double—; foresee—; forestall—; guard against—; head off—;  immunize against—; induce—; initiate—; intensify—; launch—; mass for—; mount to—; plan—; precipitate—; predispose to —; prepare for—; presage—; pretend—; proceed with—; proclaim—; recover from —; re-enforce—; repel—; repudiate—; repulse—; satirize—; shift—; soften—; subdue—; succeed in—; succumb to—; suppress —; survive—; sustain—; terminate—; throw off—; time—; unite in—; unleash—; usher in—; wind up—; —abates; —arises; — coincides; —defames; —excites; —impends;—injures; —occurs; —overthrows; —recurs;—seizes; —subsides; —succeeds; —sways; —swerves; —swings.

Adverbs for Attack
ardently; simultaneously; bitterly; scurrilously; fiendishly; virulently; libelously; savagely; anonymously; ridiculously; characteristically; sorely; energetically; vehemently; criminally; unscrupulously; smashingly; murderously; devastatingly; ruthlessly; scathingly; treacherously; verbally; incessantly; determinedly; inexorably; impetuously; venomously; scientifically; unprovokedly; obliquely; blasphemously; decisively; barbarously; prematurely; insidiously; satirically.

Synonyms for Attack

 * assail, assault, violate, seize, infringe, encroach, charge, besiege, combat, beset, encounter.
 * hit, spike

Antonyms for Attack
protect, defend, sustain, shelter

Derived terms

 * attack is the best form of defence
 * pincer attack

Thesaurus
hit; hit like lightning; hop to it; hostilities; hot war; hysterical epilepsy; ictus; idea; implicate; implication; impugn; impugnment; incriminate; incrimination; inculpate; inculpation; incursion; infect; inroad; intention; invade; invasion; invective; inveigh against; invest; involve; involvement; irrupt; jawing; jeremiad; jingoism; jump; jump to it; killing; la guerre; land on; larval epilepsy; laryngeal epilepsy; laryngospasm; lash; latent epilepsy; launch forth; launch into; lay about; lay about one; lay at; lay hands on; lay into; lay on; lay waste; laying waste; layout; levy war on; light into; line; line of action; lines; lineup; lockjaw; long-range plan; loot; looting; make war on; malign; manner; manner of working; mapping; massacre; master plan; matutinal epilepsy; maul; means; menstrual epilepsy; method; methodology; might of arms; militarization; military operations; mobilization; mode; mode of operation; mode of procedure; modus operandi; move into; mug; murderous insanity; musicogenic epilepsy; muster; myoclonous epilepsy; nocturnal epilepsy; obstreperousness; occlusion; offense; offensive; onset; onslaught; open hostilities; open war; operations research; order; organization; orgasm; outbreak; paroxysm; petit mal; philippic; phonation; physiologic epilepsy; pillage; pillaging; pitch in; pitch into; plan; planning; planning function; plunge into; pounce upon; pound; practice; prearrangement; press; procedure; proceed to; proceeding; process; program; program of action; pronunciation; psychic epilepsy; psychokinesia; psychomotor epilepsy; pugnacity; push; rage; raid; ramp; rampage; rant; rape; rating; rationalization; rave; reflex epilepsy; resort to arms; revile; revilement; riot; rioting; roar; roast; rotatoria; routine; ruin; rush; sack; sacking; sail into; sally; savage; scarify; scathe; schedule; schema; schematism; schematization; scheme; scheme of arrangement; scorch; screed; seize; seizure; sensory epilepsy; serial epilepsy; set about; set at; set forward; set going; set on; set to; set to work; set upon; setup; sexual climax; shooting war; siege; skin alive; slash; slaughter; sortie; sow chaos; sowing with salt; spasm; spell; square up; start; start in; state of war; stoppage; storm; strategic plan; strategy; strike; strike at; stroke; style; surprise; swoop down on; system; systematization; tack; tackle; tactical plan; tactics; take on; take the offensive; take up; tardy epilepsy; tear; tear around; technique; terrorize; tetanus; tetany; the big picture; the drill; the how; the picture; the sword; the way of; throes; thromboembolism; thrombosis; tirade; tone; tongue-lashing; tonic epilepsy; tonic spasm; torsion spasm; total war; traumatic epilepsy; trismus; trounce; turn; turn on; turn to; ucinate epilepsy; undertake; unruliness; utterance; vandalize; venture upon; vilification; vilify; violate; violation; visitation; vituperation; vocalization; voicing; wade into; war; warfare; warmaking; warmongering; warring; wartime; waste; wasting; way; wise; working plan; wreck; Jacksonian epilepsy; MO; Rolandic epilepsy; abdominal epilepsy; abuse; accept; access; acquired epilepsy; action; activated epilepsy; activation; affect; affect epilepsy; affection; aggression; aggressiveness; ailment; akinetic epilepsy; algorithm; all-out war; ambush; amok; apoplexy; appeal to arms; approach; armed combat; armed conflict; arrangement; arrest; articulation; assail; assailing; assailment; assault; assume; attack; attempt; autonomic epilepsy; barbarize; batter; battering; battle; begin; beleaguer; bellicosity; belligerence; belligerency; berate; berating; beset; besiege; bitter words; blackening; blister; blitz; blockade; blockage; bloodshed; blueprint; blueprinting; bout; brutalize; buckle down; buckle to; burn; bushwhack; butcher; butchery; calculation; cardiac epilepsy; carry on; castigate; censure; challenge; charge; charting; chauvinism; citation; clonic spasm; clonus; combat; combativeness; come at; come down on; complaint; conception; condemn; contrivance; contumely; convulsion; corrode; corrosion; cortical epilepsy; course; crack down on; cramp; criminate; criticism; criticize; cry out against; cry out on; cry shame upon; cursive epilepsy; declare war; decompose; decrial; decry; defy; delivery; denigrate; denigration; denounce; denunciation; deprecate; deprecation; descend on; descend upon; descent; design; destroy; destruction; device; devour; diatribe; disease; disorder; disorderliness; disparage; disparagement; disposition; dissolve; diurnal epilepsy; dive into; draw first blood; drive; eat; eclampsia; embark in; embark upon; encompass; endeavor; engage in; engage in battle; enter on; enter upon; enterprise; enunciation; envisagement; epilepsia; epilepsia gravior; epilepsia major; epilepsia minor; epilepsia mitior; epilepsia nutans; epilepsia tarda; epilepsy; epitasis; erode; erosion; excoriate; execration; fall; fall into; fall on; fall to; fall upon; falling sickness; fashion; fay; fever; fight; fighting; figuring; fit; focal epilepsy; foray; forcible seizure; foresight; forethought; form; frenzy; furor; fury; fustigate; game; gang up on; get busy; get cracking; get going; get under way; get with it; go about; go at; go for; go in for; go into; go on; go to it; go upon; grand mal; graphing; grip; ground plan; guidelines; guise; hammer; harass; hard words; harry; haute mal; have at;

Etymology
From attaque:, derived from the verb attaquer:, from  attaccare: used in attaccare battaglia, "to join battle". Cognate with Italian attacca: and German Attacke:.

Pronunciation

 * , {{SAMPA|/@"t{k/}}