attack

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: at=tack
• COUNT in NET: 168 in 156 verses (in OT : 166 in 154 verses) (in NT : 2 in 2 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

attack, v. t. [F. attaquer, orig. another form of attacher to attack: cf. It. attacare to fasten, attack. See Attach, Tack a small nail.].

•  To fall upon with force; to assail, as with force and arms; to assault.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]
•  To assail with unfriendly speech or writing; to begin a controversy with; to attempt to overthrow or bring into disrepute, by criticism or satire; to censure; as, to attack a man, or his opinions, in a pamphlet.  [1913 Webster]
•  To set to work upon, as upon a task or problem, or some object of labor or investigation.  [1913 Webster]
•  To begin to affect; to begin to act upon, injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste.  [1913 Webster]

  "On the fourth of March he was attacked by fever."  [1913 Webster]

  "Hydrofluoric acid . . . attacks the glass."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- To Attack, Assail, Assault, Invade.

attack, v. i. 

 To make an onset or attack.  [1913 Webster]

attack, n. [Cf. F. attaque.].

•  The act of attacking, or falling on with force or violence; an onset; an assault; -- opposed to defense.  [1913 Webster]
•  An assault upon one's feelings or reputation with unfriendly or bitter words.  [1913 Webster]
•  A setting to work upon some task, etc.  [1913 Webster]
•  An access of disease; a fit of sickness.  [1913 Webster]
•  The beginning of corrosive, decomposing, or destructive action, by a chemical agent.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

attack, v. & n.
--v.
1 tr. act against with (esp. armed) force.
2 tr. seek to hurt or defeat.
3 tr. criticize adversely.
4 tr. act harmfully upon (a virus attacking the nervous system).
5 tr. vigorously apply oneself to; begin work on (attacked his meal with gusto).
6 intr. make an attack.
7 intr. be in a mode of attack.
--n.
1 the act or process of attacking.
2 an offensive operation or mode of behaviour.
3 Mus. the action or manner of beginning a piece, passage, etc.
4 gusto, vigour.
5 a sudden occurrence of an illness.
6 a player or players seeking to score goals etc.

Derivative

attacker n.

Etymology

F attaque, attaquer f. It. attacco attack, attaccare ATTACH

THESAURUS

attack

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, 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

ROGET THESAURUS

attack

Disease

N disease, illness, sickness, ailing, all the ills that flesh is heir to, morbidity, morbosity, infirmity, ailment, indisposition, complaint, disorder, malady, distemper, distemperature, visitation, attack, seizure, stroke, fit, delicacy, loss of health, invalidation, cachexy, cachexia, atrophy, marasmus, indigestion, dyspepsia, decay, decline, consumption, palsy, paralysis, prostration, taint, pollution, infection, sepsis, septicity, infestation, epidemic, pandemic, endemic, epizootic, murrain, plague, pestilence, pox, sore, ulcer, abscess, fester, boil, pimple, wen, carbuncle, gathering, imposthume, peccant humor, issue, rot, canker, cold sore, fever sore, cancer, carcinoma, leukemia, neoplastic disease, malignancy, tumor, caries, mortification, corruption, gangrene, sphacelus, sphacelation, leprosy, eruption, rash, breaking out, fever, temperature, calenture, inflammation, ague, angina pectoris, appendicitis, Asiatic cholera, spasmodic cholera, biliary calculus, kidney stone, black death, bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, blennorrhagia, blennorrhoea, blood poisoning, bloodstroke, bloody flux, brash, breakbone fever, dengue fever, malarial fever, Q-fever, heart attack, cardiac arrest, cardiomyopathy, hardening of the arteries, arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis, bronchocele, canker rash, cardialgia, carditis, endocarditis, cholera, asphyxia, chlorosis, chorea, cynanche, dartre, enanthem, enanthema, erysipelas, exanthem, exanthema, gallstone, goiter, gonorrhea, green sickness, grip, grippe, influenza, flu, hay fever, heartburn, heaves, rupture, hernia, hemorrhoids, piles, herpes, itch, king's evil, lockjaw, measles, mumps, polio, necrosis, pertussis, phthisis, pneumonia, psora, pyaemia, pyrosis, quinsy, rachitis, ringworm, rubeola, St. Vitus's dance, scabies, scarlatina, scarlet fever, scrofula, seasickness, struma, syntexis, tetanus, tetter, tonsillitis, tonsilitis, tracheocele, trachoma, trismus, varicella, varicosis, variola, water qualm, whooping cough, yellow fever, yellow jack, fatal disease, dangerous illness, galloping consumption, churchyard cough, general breaking up, break up of the system, idiocy insanity, martyr to disease, cripple, the halt the lame and the blind, valetudinary, valetudinarian, invalid, patient, case, sickroom, sick- chamber, pathology, etiology, nosology, anthrax, bighead, blackleg, blackquarter, cattle plague, glanders, mange, scrapie, milk sickness, heartworm, feline leukemia, roundworms, quarter-evil, quarter-ill, rinderpest, virus, bacterium, bacteria, DNA virus, RNA virus, rhinovirus, rhabdovirus, picornavirus, herpesvirus, cytomegalovirus, CMV, human immunodefficiency virus, HIV, diseased, ailing, ill, ill of, taken ill, seized with, indisposed, unwell, sick, squeamish, poorly, seedy, affected with illness, afflicted with illness, laid up, confined, bedridden, invalided, in hospital, on the sick list, out of health, out of sorts, under the weather, valetudinary, unsound, unhealthy, sickly, morbid, morbose, healthless, infirm, chlorotic, unbraced, drooping, flagging, lame, crippled, halting, morbid, tainted, vitiated, peccant, contaminated, poisoned, tabid, mangy, leprous, cankered, rotten, rotten to the core, rotten at the core, withered, palsied, paralytic, dyspeptic, luetic, pneumonic, pulmonic, phthisic, rachitic, syntectic, syntectical, tabetic, varicose, touched in the wind, broken-winded, spavined, gasping, hors de combat, weakly, weakened, decrepit, decayed, incurable, in declining health, cranky, in a bad way, in danger, prostrate, moribund, morbific epidemic, endemic, zymotic.

Attack

N attack, assault, assault and battery, onset, onslaught, charge, aggression, offense, incursion, inroad, invasion, irruption, outbreak, estrapade, ruade, coupe de main, sally, sortie, camisade, raid, foray, run at, run against, dead set at, storm, storming, boarding, escalade, siege, investment, obsession, bombardment, cannonade, fire, volley, platoon fire, file fire, fusillade, sharpshooting, broadside, raking fire, cross fire, volley of grapeshot, whiff of the grape, feu d'enfer, cut, thrust, lunge, pass, passado, carte and tierce, home thrust, coupe de bec, kick, punch, battue, razzia, Jacquerie, dragonnade, devastation, eboulement, assailant, aggressor, invader, base of operations, point of attack, echelon, attacking, aggressive, offensive, obsidional, up in arms, on the offensive, Int, up and at them!, the din of arms, the yell of savage rage, the shriek of agony, the groan of death, their fatal hands no second stroke intend, thirst for glory quells the love of life.

VB attack, assault, assail, invade, set upon, fall upon, charge, impugn, break a lance with, enter the lists, assume the offensive, take the offensive, be the aggressor, become the aggressor, strike the first blow, draw first blood, throw the first stone at, lift a hand against, draw the sword against, take up the cudgels, advance against, march against, march upon, harry, come on, show fight, strike at, poke at, thrust at, aim a blow at, deal a blow at, give one a blow, fetch one a blow, fetch one a kick, give one a kick, have a cut at, have a shot at, take a cut at, take a shot at, have a fling at, have a shy at, be down upon, pounce upon, fall foul of, pitch into, launch out against, bait, slap on the face, make a thrust at, make a pass at, make a set at, make a dead set at, bear down upon, close with, come to close quarters, bring to bay, ride full tilt against, attack tooth and nail, go at hammer and tongs, let fly at, dash at, run a tilt at, rush at, tilt at, run at, fly at, hawk at, have at, let out at, make a dash, make a rush at, strike home, drive one hard, press one hard, be hard upon, run down, strike at the root of, lay about one, run amuck, aim at, draw a bead on, fire upon, fire at, fire a shot at, shoot at, pop at, level at, let off a gun at, open fire, pepper, bombard, shell, pour a broadside into, fire a volley, fire red-hot shot, spring a mine, throw a stone, throw stones at, stone, lapidate, pelt, hurl at, hurl against, hurl at the head of, rock beset, besiege, beleaguer, lay siege to, invest, open the trenches, plant a battery, sap, mine, storm, board, scale the walls, cut and thrust, bayonet, butt, kick, strike, whip, assail, impugn, malign (detract), bomb, rocket, blast.

Detraction

VB detract, derogate, decry, deprecate, depreciate, disparage, run down, cry down, backcap, belittle, sneer at, criticize, pull to pieces, pick a hole in one's coat, asperse, cast aspersions, blow upon, bespatter, blacken, vilify, vilipend, avile, give a dog a bad name, brand, malign, muckrake, backbite, libel, lampoon, traduce, slander, defame, calumniate, bear false witness against, speak ill of behind one's back, fling dirt, anathematize, dip the pen in gall, view in a bad light, impugn (disparage the motives of), assail, attack, oppose, denounce, accuse.