“attacks” is a form of
attack
/əˈtæk/ noun, verb, adjective
Forms attacks attacking attacked attackest attackedst attacketh attackt attackted
- noun An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of an opponent or enemy.
- noun (gaming) Any of several specific maneuvers, skills, or special abilities that a character can use to inflict damage against opponents.
- noun An attempt to detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault. “They claimed the censorship of the article was an attack on free speech.”
- noun A time in which one attacks; the offence of a battle. “The army timed their attack to coincide with the local celebrations.”
- noun (informal, by extension) The beginning of active operations on anything. “Having washed the plates from dinner, I made an attack on the laundry.”
- noun (computing) An attempt to exploit a vulnerability in a computer system.
- noun (cricket) Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side.
- noun (volleyball) Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net.
- verb (transitive) To apply violent force to someone or something. “This species of snake will only attack humans if it feels threatened.”
- verb (transitive) To aggressively challenge a person, idea, etc., with words (particularly in newspaper headlines, because it typesets into less space than "criticize" or similar). “She published an article attacking the recent pay cuts.”
- verb (transitive) To begin to affect; to act upon injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste.
- verb (transitive) To deal with something in a direct way; to set to work upon. “We’ll have dinner before we attack the biology homework.”
- verb (transitive, cricket) To aim balls at the batsman’s wicket.
- verb (intransitive, cricket) To set a field, or bowl in a manner designed to get wickets.
- verb (intransitive, cricket) To bat aggressively, so as to score runs quickly.
- verb (soccer) To move forward in an active attempt to score a point, as opposed to trying not to concede.
- adjective Designed or kept for the purpose of confrontation.
Synonyms
hit spike savage abuse aggress assail assault beat beleaguer bepommel beset besiege bombard charge come down on dust up fall on fall upon impugn invade onslaught onset onrush fire flak flack blast approach plan of attack attempt
Antonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from French attaque, derived from the verb attaquer, from Italian attaccare (“to join, attach”) (used in attaccare battaglia (“to join battle”)), from Frankish *stakkijan (“to stick, stick to, attach”). Doublet of attach. Displaced native Middle English onresen, from Old English onrǣsan (“to attack”); and Middle English resinge (“an assault, attack”) (compare Old English onrǣs (“an attack”)).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To fall upon with force; to assail, as with force and arms; to assault. "Attack their lines." Dryden.
- verb To assail with unfriendly speech or writing; to begin a controversy with; to attempt to overthrow or bring into disrepute, by criticism or satire; to censure; as, to attack a man, or his opinions, in a pamphlet.
- verb To make an onset or attack.
- noun The act of attacking, or falling on with force or violence; an onset; an assault; --opposed to defense.
Etymology [F. attaquer, orig. another form of attacher to attack: cf. It. attacare to fasten, attack. See Attach, Tack a small nail.]
Etymology [Cf. F. attaque.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “attack”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details