assault
Forms
- Plural
- assaults
- present (v1)
- assault
- past (v2)
- assaulted
- past participle (v3)
- assaulted
- present participle
- assaulting
- 3rd person singular
- assaults
Definitions
1.A violent onset or attack with physical means, for example blows, weapons, etc.
- The army made an assault on the enemy.
- The Spanish general prepared to renew the assault.
- Unshaken bears the assault / Of their most dreaded foe, the strong southwest.
2.A violent verbal attack, for example with insults, criticism, and the like
- She launched a written assault on the opposition party.
3.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.
4.The crime whose action is such an attempt.
1.To attack, physically or figuratively; to assail.
- Loud music assaulted our ears as we entered the building.
- Tom was accused of assaulting another man outside a nightclub.
2.To threaten or harass.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2624
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
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.