Library / English Dictionary

ASSAULT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A threatened or attempted physical attack by someone who appears to be able to cause bodily harm if not stopped

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("assault" is a kind of...):

attack; attempt (the act of attacking)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "assault"):

aggravated assault (a reckless attack with intent to injure seriously (as with a deadly weapon))

assault and battery; battery (an assault in which the assailant makes physical contact)

mugging (assault with intent to rob)

Derivation:

assault (attack someone physically or emotionally)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The crime of forcing a person to submit to sexual intercourse against his or her will

Synonyms:

assault; rape; ravishment; violation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("assault" is a kind of...):

sex crime; sex offense; sexual abuse; sexual assault (a statutory offense that provides that it is a crime to knowingly cause another person to engage in an unwanted sexual act by force or threat)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "assault"):

date rape (rape in which the rapist is known to the victim (as when they are on a date together))

carnal abuse; statutory rape (sexual intercourse with a person (girl or boy) who has not reached the age of consent (even if both parties participate willingly))

Derivation:

assault (attack someone physically or emotionally)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Close fighting during the culmination of a military attack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("assault" is a kind of...):

battle; conflict; engagement; fight (a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "assault"):

resisting arrest (physical efforts to oppose a lawful arrest; the resistance is classified as assault and battery upon the person of the police officer attempting to make the arrest)

storm (a direct and violent assault on a stronghold)

Holonyms ("assault" is a part of...):

attack; onrush; onset; onslaught ((military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Thoroughbred that won the triple crown in 1946

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Instance hypernyms:

thoroughbred (a racehorse belonging to a breed that originated from a cross between Arabian stallions and English mares)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Attack in speech or writing

Example:

The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker

Synonyms:

assail; assault; attack; lash out; round; snipe

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "assault" is one way to...):

criticise; criticize; knock; pick apart (find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assault"):

rubbish (attack strongly)

blister; scald; whip (subject to harsh criticism)

barrage; bombard (address with continuously or persistently, as if with a barrage)

whang (attack forcefully)

rip (criticize or abuse strongly and violently)

vitriol (subject to bitter verbal abuse)

claw (attack as if with claws)

abuse; blackguard; clapperclaw; shout (use foul or abusive language towards)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

assaulter (someone who attacks)

assaultive (disposed to attack)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Attack someone physically or emotionally

Example:

Nightmares assailed him regularly

Synonyms:

assail; assault; attack; set on

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assault"):

molest (harass or assault sexually; make indecent advances to)

desecrate; outrage; profane; violate (violate the sacred character of a place or language)

assault; dishonor; dishonour; outrage; rape; ravish; violate (force (someone) to have sex against their will)

beset; set upon (assail or attack on all sides:)

jump (make a sudden physical attack on)

reassail (assail again)

savage (attack brutally and fiercely)

blindside (attack or hit on or from the side where the attacked person's view is obstructed)

rush (attack suddenly)

bulldog (attack viciously and ferociously)

set; sic (urge to attack someone)

bait (attack with dogs or set dogs upon)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

assault (a threatened or attempted physical attack by someone who appears to be able to cause bodily harm if not stopped)

assault (the crime of forcing a person to submit to sexual intercourse against his or her will)

assaulter (someone who attacks)

assaultive (disposed to attack)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Force (someone) to have sex against their will

Example:

The woman was raped on her way home at night

Synonyms:

assault; dishonor; dishonour; outrage; rape; ravish; violate

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "assault" is one way to...):

assail; assault; attack; set on (attack someone physically or emotionally)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assault"):

gang-rape (rape (someone) successively with several attackers)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

assaultive (disposed to attack)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A passing thought occurred to me that Miss Murdstone, like the pocket instrument called a life-preserver, was not so much designed for purposes of protection as of assault.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This open, accessible configuration surrounding the switches that control cytokine genes may be instrumental in enabling ILCs to rapidly launch an assault upon infection.

(Rapid-response immune cells are fully prepared before invasion strikes, NIH)

Is there even such a thing as a healthy plant microbiome in today's agricultural fields, with acres of identical plants assaulted by pesticides and herbicides and fertilizers?

(How do you cultivate a healthy plant microbiome?, National Science Foundation)

I have done nothing actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal constraint.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yet it would have fared ill with them had not the archers from either side closed in upon the flanks of the attackers, and pressed them very slowly and foot by foot down the long slope, until they were on the plain once more, where their fellows were already rallying for a fresh assault.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Why, then, it’s a common assault, d’ye see, against the body of ’is Majesty’s liege, William Warr, and I ’as ’em before the beak next mornin’, and it’s a week or twenty shillin’s.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Not that I dreamed of resuscitating Hyde; the bare idea of that would startle me to frenzy: no, it was in my own person that I was once more tempted to trifle with my conscience; and it was as an ordinary secret sinner that I at last fell before the assaults of temptation.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You have already been assaulted?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had thought it to be the blind man's trumpet, so to speak, summoning his crew to the assault, but I now found that it was a signal from the hillside towards the hamlet, and from its effect upon the buccaneers, a signal to warn them of approaching danger.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

We have even identified the use of the alkaloids derived from them in sexual assault cases.

(Scientists examine the ethnobotanical uses of stramonium, University of Granada)