Meaning of assault in English

Table of contents

Verb
assault
Etymology
Middle English: from Old French asaut (noun), assauter (verb), based on Latin ad-‘to’ + saltare, frequentative of salire‘to leap’. Compare with assail
Definitions
1. attack someone physically or emotionally
Examples
- « The mugger assaulted the woman »
- « Nightmares assailed him regularly »
Derived terms
2. force (someone) to have sex against their will
Examples
- « The woman was raped on her way home at night »
Derived terms
3. attack in speech or writing
Examples
- « The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker »
Derived terms
Noun
assault
Definitions
1. close fighting during the culmination of a military attack
2. a threatened or attempted physical attack by someone who appears to be able to cause bodily harm if not stopped
Derived terms
3. thoroughbred that won the triple crown in 1946
4. the crime of forcing a woman to submit to sexual intercourse against her will
Derived terms

Famous quotes

« Decades ago, women suffered through horrifying back-alley abortions. Or, they used dangerous methods when they had no other recourse. So when the Republican Party launched an all-out assault on women's health, pushing bills to limit access to vital services, we had to ask: Why is the GOP trying to send women back... to the back alley? »
Lisa Edelstein
« I had the classic 40 meltdown. I did. It's embarrassing. It was pretty funny. But then I recovered. To me, it was like a second adolescence. Hormonally, my body was changing, my mind was changing, and so my relationship to myself and the world around me came to this assault of finiteness. »
Keanu Reeves
« There's an assault on human sexuality, as Judge Scalia said, they've taken sides in the culture war and on top of that if we have a democracy, the democratic processes should be that we can elect representatives who will share our point of view and vote those things into law. »
Pat Robertson
« All movies assault the viewer in one way or another. »
Michael Haneke
« Since Hiroshima and the Holocaust, science no longer holds its pristine place as the highest moral authority. Instead, that role is taken by human rights. It follows that any assault on Jewish life - on Jews or Judaism or the Jewish state - must be cast in the language of human rights. »
Jonathan Sacks