1.  attack(n = noun.act) onrush, onset, onslaught - (military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons); "the attack began at dawn"
is a kind of military operation, operation
has parts: assault
has particulars: ground attack, charge, banzai attack, banzai charge, diversion, diversionary attack, incursion, penetration, blitz, blitzkrieg, strike, counterattack, countermove, bombardment, bombing, fire, firing, strafe, coup de main, surprise attack
Derived forms verb attack₃, verb attack₁

2.  attack(n = noun.act) - an offensive move in a sport or game; "they won the game with a 10-hit attack in the 9th inning"
is a kind of play, turn
has particulars: counterattack, counterplay

3.  attack(n = noun.communication) blast, fire, flack, flak - intense adverse criticism; "Clinton directed his fire at the Republican Party"; "the government has come under attack"; "don't give me any flak"
is a kind of criticism, unfavorable judgment
Derived form verb attack₂

4.  attack(n = noun.act) approach, plan of attack - ideas or actions intended to deal with a problem or situation; "his approach to every problem is to draw up a list of pros and cons"; "an attack on inflation"; "his plan of attack was misguided"
is a kind of conceptualisation, conceptualization, formulation
has particulars: avenue

5.  attack(n = noun.act) attempt - the act of attacking; "attacks on women increased last year"; "they made an attempt on his life"
is a kind of crime, criminal offence, criminal offense, law-breaking, offence, offense
has particulars: assault
Derived form verb attack₄

6.  attack(n = noun.act) tone-beginning - a decisive manner of beginning a musical tone or phrase;
is a kind of beginning, commencement, start

7.  attack(n = noun.state) - a sudden occurrence of an uncontrollable condition; "an attack of diarrhea"
is a kind of affliction
has particulars: anxiety attack, flare, ictus, raptus, seizure, spot, touch, apoplexy, cerebrovascular accident, cva, stroke, convulsion, fit, paroxysm, hysterics, occlusion, heart attack

8.  attack(n = noun.process) - the onset of a corrosive or destructive process (as by a chemical agent); "the film was sensitive to attack by acids"; "open to attack by the elements"
is a kind of degeneration, devolution
Derived form verb attack₆

9.  attack(n = noun.act) - strong criticism; "he published an unexpected attack on my work"
is a kind of criticism, unfavorable judgment
has particulars: aspersion, calumny, defamation, denigration, slander

1.  attack(v = verb.competition) assail - launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with; "Hitler attacked Poland on September 1, 1939 and started World War II"; "Serbian forces assailed Bosnian towns all week"
is one way to contend, fight, struggle
Antonym: defend
Derived forms noun attack₁, noun attacker₁
Sample sentences: Somebody ----s something; Somebody ----s somebody

2.  attack(v = verb.communication) assail, assault, lash out, round, snipe - attack in speech or writing; "The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker"
is one way to criticise, criticize, knock, pick apart
Derived forms noun attack₃, noun attacker₁
Sample sentences: Somebody ----s something; Somebody ----s somebody; Something ----s somebody; Something ----s something

3.  attack(v = verb.competition) aggress - take the initiative and go on the offensive; "The Serbs attacked the village at night"; "The visiting team started to attack"
is one way to act, move
Derived forms noun attack₁, noun attacker₁
Sample sentences: Something ----s; Somebody ----s; Somebody ----s something; Somebody ----s somebody

4.  attack(v = verb.competition) assail, assault, set on - attack someone physically or emotionally; "The mugger assaulted the woman"; "Nightmares assailed him regularly"
Derived forms noun attack₅, noun attacker₁
Sample sentences: Somebody ----s something; Somebody ----s somebody; Something ----s somebody

5.  attack(v = verb.change) - set to work upon; turn one's energies vigorously to a task; "I attacked the problem as soon as I got out of bed"
is one way to begin, commence, get, get down, set about, set out, start, start out
Derived form noun attacker₁
Sample sentences: Somebody ----s something

6.  attack(v = verb.body) - begin to injure; "The cancer cells are attacking his liver"; "Rust is attacking the metal"
is one way to affect
Derived forms noun attack₈, noun attacker₁
Sample sentences: Something ----s something

1.  To fall upon with force; to assail, as with force and arms; to assault. Dryden. [1913 Webster]

2.  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. [1913 Webster]

3.  To set to work upon, as upon a task or problem, or some object of labor or investigation. [1913 Webster]

4.  To begin to affect; to begin to act upon, injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste. [1913 Webster]
"On the fourth of March he was attacked by fever." [1913 Webster]
"Hydrofluoric acid . . . attacks the glass." [1913 Webster]

   To make an onset or attack. [1913 Webster]

1.  The act of attacking, or falling on with force or violence; an onset; an assault; -- opposed to defense. [1913 Webster]

2.  An assault upon one's feelings or reputation with unfriendly or bitter words. [1913 Webster]

3.  A setting to work upon some task, etc. [1913 Webster]

4.  An access of disease; a fit of sickness. [1913 Webster]

5.  The beginning of corrosive, decomposing, or destructive action, by a chemical agent. [1913 Webster]

attack, v. & n.
--v.
1 tr. act against with (esp. armed) force.
2 tr. seek to hurt or defeat.
3 tr. criticize adversely.
4 tr. act harmfully upon (a virus attacking the nervous system).
5 tr. vigorously apply oneself to; begin work on (attacked his meal with gusto).
6 intr. make an attack.
7 intr. be in a mode of attack.
--n.
1 the act or process of attacking.
2 an offensive operation or mode of behaviour.
3 Mus. the action or manner of beginning a piece, passage, etc.
4 gusto, vigour.
5 a sudden occurrence of an illness.
6 a player or players seeking to score goals etc.

Derivative:
attacker n.

Etymology:
F attaque, attaquer f. It. attacco attack, attaccare ATTACH

N  disease, illness, sickness, ailing, all the ills that flesh is heir to, morbidity, morbosity, infirmity, ailment, indisposition, complaint, disorder, malady, distemper, distemperature, visitation, attack, seizure, stroke, fit, delicacy, loss of health, invalidation, cachexy, cachexia, atrophy, marasmus, indigestion, dyspepsia, decay, decline, consumption, palsy, paralysis, prostration, taint, pollution, infection, sepsis, septicity, infestation, epidemic, pandemic, endemic, epizootic, murrain, plague, pestilence, pox, sore, ulcer, abscess, fester, boil, pimple, wen, carbuncle, gathering, imposthume, peccant humor, issue, rot, canker, cold sore, fever sore, cancer, carcinoma, leukemia, neoplastic disease, malignancy, tumor, caries, mortification, corruption, gangrene, sphacelus, sphacelation, leprosy, eruption, rash, breaking out, fever, temperature, calenture, inflammation, ague, angina pectoris, appendicitis, Asiatic cholera, spasmodic cholera, biliary calculus, kidney stone, black death, bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, blennorrhagia, blennorrhoea, blood poisoning, bloodstroke, bloody flux, brash, breakbone fever, dengue fever, malarial fever, Q-fever, heart attack, cardiac arrest, cardiomyopathy, hardening of the arteries, arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis, bronchocele, canker rash, cardialgia, carditis, endocarditis, cholera, asphyxia, chlorosis, chorea, cynanche, dartre, enanthem, enanthema, erysipelas, exanthem, exanthema, gallstone, goiter, gonorrhea, green sickness, grip, grippe, influenza, flu, hay fever, heartburn, heaves, rupture, hernia, hemorrhoids, piles, herpes, itch, king's evil, lockjaw, measles, mumps, polio, necrosis, pertussis, phthisis, pneumonia, psora, pyaemia, pyrosis, quinsy, rachitis, ringworm, rubeola, St. Vitus's dance, scabies, scarlatina, scarlet fever, scrofula, seasickness, struma, syntexis, tetanus, tetter, tonsillitis, tonsilitis, tracheocele, trachoma, trismus, varicella, varicosis, variola, water qualm, whooping cough, yellow fever, yellow jack, fatal disease, dangerous illness, galloping consumption, churchyard cough, general breaking up, break up of the system, idiocy insanity, martyr to disease, cripple, the halt the lame and the blind, valetudinary, valetudinarian, invalid, patient, case, sickroom, sick- chamber, pathology, etiology, nosology, anthrax, bighead, blackleg, blackquarter, cattle plague, glanders, mange, scrapie, milk sickness, heartworm, feline leukemia, roundworms, quarter-evil, quarter-ill, rinderpest, virus, bacterium, bacteria, DNA virus, RNA virus, rhinovirus, rhabdovirus, picornavirus, herpesvirus, cytomegalovirus, CMV, human immunodefficiency virus, HIV, diseased, ailing, ill, ill of, taken ill, seized with, indisposed, unwell, sick, squeamish, poorly, seedy, affected with illness, afflicted with illness, laid up, confined, bedridden, invalided, in hospital, on the sick list, out of health, out of sorts, under the weather, valetudinary, unsound, unhealthy, sickly, morbid, morbose, healthless, infirm, chlorotic, unbraced, drooping, flagging, lame, crippled, halting, morbid, tainted, vitiated, peccant, contaminated, poisoned, tabid, mangy, leprous, cankered, rotten, rotten to the core, rotten at the core, withered, palsied, paralytic, dyspeptic, luetic, pneumonic, pulmonic, phthisic, rachitic, syntectic, syntectical, tabetic, varicose, touched in the wind, broken-winded, spavined, gasping, hors de combat, weakly, weakened, decrepit, decayed, incurable, in declining health, cranky, in a bad way, in danger, prostrate, moribund, morbific epidemic, endemic, zymotic.

N  attack, assault, assault and battery, onset, onslaught, charge, aggression, offense, incursion, inroad, invasion, irruption, outbreak, estrapade, ruade, coupe de main, sally, sortie, camisade, raid, foray, run at, run against, dead set at, storm, storming, boarding, escalade, siege, investment, obsession, bombardment, cannonade, fire, volley, platoon fire, file fire, fusillade, sharpshooting, broadside, raking fire, cross fire, volley of grapeshot, whiff of the grape, feu d'enfer, cut, thrust, lunge, pass, passado, carte and tierce, home thrust, coupe de bec, kick, punch, battue, razzia, Jacquerie, dragonnade, devastation, eboulement, assailant, aggressor, invader, base of operations, point of attack, echelon, attacking, aggressive, offensive, obsidional, up in arms, on the offensive, Int, up and at them!, the din of arms, the yell of savage rage, the shriek of agony, the groan of death, their fatal hands no second stroke intend, thirst for glory quells the love of life.

VB  attack, assault, assail, invade, set upon, fall upon, charge, impugn, break a lance with, enter the lists, assume the offensive, take the offensive, be the aggressor, become the aggressor, strike the first blow, draw first blood, throw the first stone at, lift a hand against, draw the sword against, take up the cudgels, advance against, march against, march upon, harry, come on, show fight, strike at, poke at, thrust at, aim a blow at, deal a blow at, give one a blow, fetch one a blow, fetch one a kick, give one a kick, have a cut at, have a shot at, take a cut at, take a shot at, have a fling at, have a shy at, be down upon, pounce upon, fall foul of, pitch into, launch out against, bait, slap on the face, make a thrust at, make a pass at, make a set at, make a dead set at, bear down upon, close with, come to close quarters, bring to bay, ride full tilt against, attack tooth and nail, go at hammer and tongs, let fly at, dash at, run a tilt at, rush at, tilt at, run at, fly at, hawk at, have at, let out at, make a dash, make a rush at, strike home, drive one hard, press one hard, be hard upon, run down, strike at the root of, lay about one, run amuck, aim at, draw a bead on, fire upon, fire at, fire a shot at, shoot at, pop at, level at, let off a gun at, open fire, pepper, bombard, shell, pour a broadside into, fire a volley, fire red-hot shot, spring a mine, throw a stone, throw stones at, stone, lapidate, pelt, hurl at, hurl against, hurl at the head of, rock beset, besiege, beleaguer, lay siege to, invest, open the trenches, plant a battery, sap, mine, storm, board, scale the walls, cut and thrust, bayonet, butt, kick, strike, whip, assail, impugn, malign (detract), bomb, rocket, blast.

VB  detract, derogate, decry, deprecate, depreciate, disparage, run down, cry down, backcap, belittle, sneer at, criticize, pull to pieces, pick a hole in one's coat, asperse, cast aspersions, blow upon, bespatter, blacken, vilify, vilipend, avile, give a dog a bad name, brand, malign, muckrake, backbite, libel, lampoon, traduce, slander, defame, calumniate, bear false witness against, speak ill of behind one's back, fling dirt, anathematize, dip the pen in gall, view in a bad light, impugn (disparage the motives of), assail, attack, oppose, denounce, accuse.

air attack, angle of attack, anxiety attack, asthma attack, attack aircraft, attack aircraft carrier, attack dog, attack submarine, banzai attack, biologic attack, biological attack, diversionary attack, ground attack, heart attack, joint direct attack munition, panic attack, plan of attack, preventive attack, surprise attack, terrorist attack, transient ischemic attack, under attack, warning of attack