attacks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of attack.

   The fortress withstood three separate attacks before dawn.

   Her recurring migraine attacks left her unable to work for days.

   Note

   Two words share this spelling, and only position tells them apart. After a number, an article or an adjective it is the noun (three attacks, the attacks, cyber attacks). After a singular subject it is the present-tense verb. As a plural, the noun covers every countable kind of attack: armed assaults, verbal broadsides, attempts on a computer system and a game character's special moves.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of attack.

   The lioness attacks only when her cubs are directly threatened.

   Her opponent attacks every weakness in the argument without mercy.

   Note

   The form headlines favor: in "Minister attacks plan", attack does the work of criticize in less space on the page. It is transitive in nearly every use, since something is always attacked. Cricket is the exception. A bowler who simply attacks, with no object, is setting a field or bowling to take wickets rather than to contain runs.

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