attack
pronunciation
How to pronounce attack in British English:
UK [əˈtæk]
How to pronounce attack in American English:
US [əˈtæk]
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- Noun:
- (military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons)
- a sudden occurrence of an uncontrollable condition
- intense adverse criticism
- the act of attacking
- an offensive move in a sport or game
- the onset of a corrosive or destructive process (as by a chemical agent)
- ideas or actions intended to deal with a problem or situation
- a decisive manner of beginning a musical tone or phrase
- strong criticism
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- Verb:
- launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with
- attack in speech or writing
- take the initiative and go on the offensive
- attack someone physically or emotionally
- set to work upon; turn one's energies vigorously to a task
- begin to injure
Word Origin
- attack
- attack: [16] Attack reached English via French attaquer from Italian attaccare ‘attach, join’, which, like Old French atachier (source of English attach) was based on a hypothetical Germanic *stakōn (from which English gets stake). Phrases such as attaccare battaglia ‘join battle’ led to attaccare being used on its own to mean ‘attack’. Attach and attack are thus ‘doublets’ – that is, words with the same ultimate derivation but different meanings.=> attach, stake
- attack (v.)
- c. 1600, from French attaquer (16c.), from Florentine Italian attaccare (battaglia) "join (battle)," thus the word is a doublet of attach, which was used 15c.-17c. also in the sense now reserved to attack. Related: Attacked; attacking.
- attack (n.)
- 1660s, from attack (v.). Compare Middle English attach "a seizure or attack" (of fever), late 14c.
Example
- 1. The taliban claimed responsibility for the attack .
- 2. Mr mccain will doubtless find other lines of attack .
- 3. Smartphones are an increasingly popular attack target .
- 4. Press freedom is also under attack in iraq .
- 5. But republicans continued to attack the plan on tuesday .