Definition of: attack

(ə·tak′) v.t.
1. To set upon suddenly; begin battle or conflict with.
2. To assail with hostile words; criticize, censure.
3. To begin work on; set about, as an undertaking, with the intention of completing.
4. To begin to affect seriously or injuriously; seize: Acid attacks metal; Disease attacks a person.
—v.i.
5. To make an attack; begin battle: The enemy attacked at dawn.
—noun
1. The act of assaulting: with on or upon.
2. The first movement toward any undertaking.
3. Any hostile, offensive part or action, as with troops.
4. A seizure, as by disease.
5. Music The manner of beginning a phrase or passage with decision and spirit. [<F attaquer <Ital. attaccare, ult. < same source as ATTACH] Synonyms (verb): assail, assault, beleaguer, beset, besiege, charge, combat, encounter, invade. To attack is to begin hostilities of any kind. Assail and assault, while of the same original etymology, have diverged in meaning, so that assault alone retains the meaning of direct personal violence. One may assail another with reproaches; he assaults him with a blow, a brandished weapon, etc. To encounter is to meet face to face, and may be said either of the attacking or of the resisting force or person, or of both. Antonyms: aid, befriend, cover, defend, preserve, protect, resist, shelter, shield, support, sustain, up-hold, withstand. Synonyms (noun): aggression, assault, encroachment, incursion, infringement, intrusion, invasion, onset, onslaught, trespass. An attack may be by word; an aggression is always by deed, upon rights, possessions, etc. An invasion of a nation's territories is an act of aggression; an intrusion upon a neighboring estate is a trespass. Onslaught signifies intensely violent assault, as by an army or a desperado, but it is sometimes used of violent speech. See AGGRESSION. Antonyms: defense, repulsion, resistance, retreat, submission, surrender.