attack

== 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 *stakkijan (“to stick, stick to, attach”). Doublet of attach. Displaced native Middle English onresen, from Old English onrǣsan (“to attack”); and Middle English resinge (“an assault, attack”) (compare Old English onrǣs (“an attack”)). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General American, General Australian) IPA(key): /əˈtæk/ Rhymes: -æk Hyphenation: at‧tack === Noun === attack (plural attacks) An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of an opponent or enemy. (gaming) Any of several specific maneuvers, skills, or special abilities that a character can use to inflict damage against opponents. An attempt to detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault. A time in which one attacks; the offence of a battle. (informal, by extension) The beginning of active operations on anything. (computing) An attempt to exploit a vulnerability in a computer system. birthday attack; denial-of-service attack (cricket) Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side. (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 (lacrosse) The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team. (medicine) The sudden onset of a disease or condition. An active episode of a chronic or recurrent disease. (music) The onset of a musical note, particularly with respect to the strength (and duration) of that onset. Antonyms: decay, release (audio) The amount of time taken 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). (wine) The initial sensory impact of a wine. (South India) Short for heart attack. ==== Synonyms ==== See also Thesaurus:attack ==== Hyponyms ==== ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Verb === attack (third-person singular simple present attacks, present participle attacking, simple past and past participle attacked or (obsolete) attackt or (obsolete, dialectal) attackted) (transitive) To apply violent force to someone or something. Synonym: savage (transitive) To aggressively challenge a person, idea, etc., with words (particularly in newspaper headlines, because it typesets into less space than "criticize" or similar). (transitive) To begin to affect; to act upon injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste. (transitive) To deal with something in a direct way; to set to work upon. (transitive, cricket) To aim balls at the batsman’s wicket. (intransitive, cricket) To set a field, or bowl in a manner designed to get wickets. (intransitive, cricket) To bat aggressively, so as to score runs quickly. (soccer) To move forward in an active attempt to score a point, as opposed to trying not to concede. (cycling) To accelerate quickly in an attempt to get ahead of the other riders. (physical chemistry) (Of a chemical species) To approach a chemical species or bond in order to form a bond with it. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Synonyms ==== See also Thesaurus:attack ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Adjective === attack (not comparable) Designed or kept for the purpose of confrontation. attack dog, attack ad === Further reading === “attack”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “attack”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. “attack”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. == Swedish == === Etymology === From French attaque. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /aˈtak/ === Noun === attack c attack; an attempt to cause damage attack; offense of a battle ==== Declension ==== ==== Synonyms ==== anfall angrepp ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== attackera === Further reading === “attack”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish) === Anagrams === tackat