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assault. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
assault, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Etymology
From Middle English assaut, from Old French noun assaut, derived from the past participle of the verb assalir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“at, towards”) + salīre (“jump”). See also assail. Spelling Latinized around 1530 to add an l.
Pronunciation
Noun
assault (countable and uncountable, plural assaults)
- A violent onset or attack with physical means, for example blows, weapons, etc.
The army made an assault on the enemy.
1814, William Wordsworth, The Excursion, Book 5:Unshaken bears the assault / Of their most dreaded foe, the strong southwest.
2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Batarians Codex entry:Hostilities peaked with the Skyllian Blitz of 2176, an attack on the human capital of Elysium by batarian-funded pirates and slavers. In 2178, the Alliance retaliated with a crushing assault on the moon of Torfan, long used as a staging base by batarian-backed criminals. In the aftermath, the batarians retreated into their own systems, and are now rarely seen in Citadel space.
- A violent verbal attack, for example with insults, criticism, and the like
she launched a written assault on the opposition party
- (criminal law) An attempt to commit battery: a violent attempt, or willful effort with force or violence, to do hurt to another, but without necessarily touching the person, such as by raising a fist in a threatening manner, or by striking at the person and missing.
- (singular only, law) The crime whose action is such an attempt.
- (tort law) An act that causes someone to apprehend imminent bodily harm (such as brandishing a weapon).
- (singular only, law) The tort whose action is such an act.
- (fencing) A non-competitive combat between two fencers.
Synonyms
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Translations
violent onset or attack with physical means
- Albanian: sulm (sq) m
- Arabic: اِعْتِدَاء (ar) m (iʕtidāʔ)
- Armenian: հարձակում (hy) (harjakum)
- Azerbaijani: basqın (az)
- Belarusian: на́пад m (nápad)
- Bengali: আক্রমণ (bn) (akromon)
- Bulgarian: ата́ка (bg) f (atáka), нападе́ние (bg) n (napadénie), щурм (bg) m (šturm) (military)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 突擊/突击 (zh) (tújí), 攻擊/攻击 (zh) (gōngjī, gōngjí)
- Czech: útok (cs) m, přepadení (cs) n, napadení n
- Danish: overfald (da) n, angreb (da) n
- Dutch: aanranding (nl) f, overval (nl) m
- Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
- Estonian: kallaletung, rünnak
- Finnish: hyökkäys (fi), päällekarkaus (fi)
- French: assaut (fr) m, agression (fr) f
- Georgian: თავდასხმა (tavdasxma)
- German: Anschlag (de) m, Überfall (de) m, Angriff (de) m
- Greek: προσβολή (el) f (prosvolí)
- Ancient: ὁρμή f (hormḗ), προσβολή f (prosbolḗ)
- Hebrew: תְּקִיפָה f (t'kifá)
- Hindi: आक्रमण (hi) m (ākramaṇ)
- Hungarian: támadás (hu), (in the military sense) roham (hu), ostrom (hu)
- Icelandic: áhlaup (is) n
- Italian: assalto (it), attacco (it), aggressione (it), arrembaggio (it) m, all'arrembaggio m
- Japanese: 襲撃 (ja) (しゅうげき, shūgeki), 突撃 (ja) (とつげきし, totsugeki), 攻撃 (ja) (こうげき, kōgeki), 暴行 (ja) (ぼうこう, bōkō)
- Kabuverdianu: agredí, agridi
- Korean: 돌격(突擊) (ko) (dolgyeok), 공격(攻擊) (ko) (gonggyeok), 폭행(暴行) (ko) (pokhaeng)
- Latin: impetus m, assultus m
- Latvian: uzbrukums m, trieciens m
- Lithuanian: užpuolimas m
- Macedonian: напад m (napad)
- Malayalam: ആക്രമം (ākramaṁ)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: overfall (no) n, angrep n
- Persian: یورش (fa) (yureš), تجاوز (fa) (tajâvoz), حمله (fa) (hamle)
- Polish: napaść (pl), szturm (pl) m
- Portuguese: agressão (pt) f, ataque (pt) m, assalto (pt) m (chiefly in military contexts)
- Romanian: asalt (ro) n, atac (ro) n
- Russian: нападе́ние (ru) n (napadénije), ата́ка (ru) f (atáka), штурм (ru) m (šturm) (military)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: на́пад m
- Roman: nápad (sh) m
- Slovak: útok m, prepadnutie n, napadnutie n
- Slovene: napad (sl) m
- Spanish: asalto (es) m, acometimiento (es) m, agresión (es), ataque (es)
- Swedish: överfall (sv) n, angrepp (sv) n, attack (sv) c
- Tagalog: pagsalakay, panlalaban
- Tajik: ҳамла (hamla), юриш (yuriš), ҳуҷум (hujum)
- Turkish: saldırı (tr)
- Ukrainian: на́пад m (nápad), штурм m (šturm)
- Urdu: حَمْلَہ m (hamlā)
- Walloon: assåt (wa) m
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violent onset or attack with moral weapons
legal: violent attempt, or willful effort with force or violence to hurt another
legal: crime whose action is such an attempt
legal: act that causes someone to apprehend imminent bodily harm
legal: tort whose action is such an act
fencing: non-competitive combat
Verb
assault (third-person singular simple present assaults, present participle assaulting, simple past and past participle assaulted)
- (transitive) To attack, physically or figuratively; to assail.
Tom was accused of assaulting another man outside a nightclub.
Loud music assaulted our ears as we entered the building.
- (transitive) To threaten or harass. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Derived terms
Translations
to attack
- Bulgarian: атакувам (bg) (atakuvam), щурмувам (bg) (šturmuvam)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 攻擊/攻击 (zh) (gōngjī, gōngjí)
- Dutch: aanranden (nl), vergrijpen (nl)
- Finnish: hyökätä (fi), käydä päälle, käydä kimppuun
- French: attaquer (fr), agresser (fr)
- German: überfallen (de), angreifen (de)
- Hungarian: megtámad (hu), megrohamoz (hu), ostromol (hu), megostromol (hu)
- Italian: attaccare (it), aggredire (it), assalire (it), molestare (it)
- Japanese: 襲う (ja) (osou), 攻める (ja) (semeru), 襲撃する (ja) (shūgeki suru)
- Latin: assultō, incessō
- Maori: taiapu, haupatu
- Norman: assauter
- Portuguese: agredir (pt)
- Russian: напада́ть (ru) impf (napadátʹ), напа́сть (ru) pf (napástʹ), (military) атакова́ть (ru) impf or pf (atakovátʹ), (military) штурмова́ть (ru) impf or pf (šturmovátʹ)
- Spanish: asaltar (es), atacar (es), agredir (es)
- Walloon: assåder (wa)
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References
Middle French
Noun
assault m (plural assauls)
- (chiefly military) assault; attack
Descendants