attack dog
noun
Simple meaning
Any dog bred, trained or used for the purpose of attacking a target, either on command or on sight.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhtakdawgSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈtækˈdɔɡ
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 watchdog trained to attack on command
Any dog bred, trained or used for the purpose of attacking a target, either on command or on sight; trained either as a specialized form of police dog or a security force dog.
A dog used in the bloodsport of dogfighting.
figurative
A person who engages in rhetorical attacks on behalf of another.
figurative
A person or other entity who fights physically on behalf of another.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A watchdog trained to attack on command
Used this way, attack dog 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
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.