assault

Pluralassaults

Formsassaults, assaulting, assaulted

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A violent physical attack on a person or position, carried out with blows, weapons, or similar force.

   The rebel forces mounted a coordinated assault against the capital.

   He was hospitalized after a brutal assault outside the bar.

   Similarattack, offensive, onslaught, raid

   Note

   The leap behind every other sense: the word came through Old French assaut from Latin ad "at" + salīre "jump", so an assault is first a jump at someone, and assail is its close cousin. The l was added around 1530 to make the spelling look Latin. Armies make, mount and renew an assault, and Wordsworth lets the strong southwest wind deliver one.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To set upon and attack someone or something, whether with physical force or, figuratively, with a barrage of words.

   Demonstrators threatened to assault the barricade if the talks failed.

   Sharp editorials assaulted the mayor's record all week.

   Similarattack, assail, storm, charge

   Oppositedefend

   Note

   The verb takes its target directly: you assault someone, whereas the noun needs on (an assault on the capital). With a person as object it usually means physical attack, as when someone is accused of assaulting a man outside a nightclub. It also stretches easily to the senses, so loud music can assault the ears.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The criminal offense consisting of an unlawful attack on, or attempt to harm, another person.

   The defendant faced charges of assault and battery.

   Prosecutors must prove intent to secure a conviction for assault.

   Note

   Named as an offense, the word behaves like a mass noun. Someone is charged with assault or convicted of assault, usually without an article. It also pairs with battery in the fixed phrase assault and battery, which joins the attempt of the attempted-blow meaning to the completed contact.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A fierce verbal attack on someone, delivered through insults, harsh criticism, and the like.

   The senator endured a verbal assault from furious constituents.

   His memoir is one long assault on his former colleagues.

   Similarattack, onslaught, tirade, diatribe, broadside

5. 5
   nouncountable

   An act that makes another person fear immediate bodily harm, such as raising a fist or brandishing a weapon.

   The raised bat alone constituted an assault under the statute.

   Lunging at the cashier with clenched fists amounted to an assault.

   Note

   The key word is apprehend. The harm need not arrive, only be expected, and expected as imminent; a threat of harm next week is a different matter. Brandishing a weapon is the classic case, because the weapon does the threatening before anyone moves. Tort law uses this test, measuring the act from the side of the person put in fear.

6. 6
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A willful, violent attempt or effort to harm another person, even without touching them: for instance by raising a fist threateningly or striking and missing.

   The court ruled that the thrown punch, though it missed, was an assault.

   Lunging to strike the referee, even without landing the blow, constituted an assault.

   Similarattack

   Note

   Criminal law keeps the threat and the blow apart. Here assault is the attempt: the fist raised, the punch thrown and missed. Battery is what happens if it lands, and the attempt is complete without any touch at all. Where the fear-based definition asks what the victim expected, this one asks what the attacker tried to do.

7. 7
   noununcountable

   The civil wrong, actionable in a lawsuit, of intentionally causing another person to fear imminent bodily harm.

   He brought a civil claim for assault, seeking damages for his fear and distress.

   Victims can recover compensation for assault even when no physical injury occurred.

   Note

   Civil courts use the same word for a different purpose. The criminal offense is prosecuted, but this one is sued for by the person put in fear, and it ends in damages rather than a sentence. Like the criminal term, it usually goes without an article: a claim for assault, liable for assault.

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To menace or harass someone with threats or unwanted pressure.

   Trolls continued to assault the journalist with menacing messages.

   He was accused of assaulting his neighbor with repeated threats.

   Similarharass, bombard, menace, torment

9. 9
   nouncountable

   A friendly bout between two fencers, fought outside any competition rather than as a contest to be won.

   The fencing coach paired the beginners for a light assault to warm up.

   After the lesson, the fencers held a relaxed assault on the practice strip.

   Similarbout

   Note

   A fencing hall's word for a friendly exchange of blades, kept apart from the scored bout of a competition. Fencers speak of a light or practice assault, and none of the violence of the attack meaning comes with it. Still, the Latin leap at the root of the word suits a sport built on the lunge.

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