assault
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A violent onset or attack with physical means, for example blows.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhsawltSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈsɔlt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A violent onset or attack with physical means, for example blows, weapons, etc.
A violent verbal attack, for example with insults, criticism, and the like
crime law
An attempt to commit battery: a violent attempt, or willful effort with force or violence, to do hurt to another, but without necessarily touching the person, such as by raising a fist in a threatening manner, or by striking at the person and missing.
verb
Attack someone physically or emotionally
transitive
To threaten or harass.
transitive
To attack, physically or figuratively; to assail.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A violent onset or attack with physical means, for example blows, weapons, etc.
Used this way, assault is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Nearby words
- battery , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use assault
- “He reported the verbal assault to his manager immediately.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An assault in which the assailant makes physical contact.
Any of the automatic rifles or semiautomatic rifles with large magazines designed for military use.
Any of the automatic rifles or semiautomatic rifles with large magazines designed for military use.
A reckless attack with intent to injure seriously (as with a deadly weapon).
An amphibious operation attacking a land base that is carried out by troops that are landed by naval ships.
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.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.