attack

Where “attack” sits in English frequency

Definition

1. 1
   An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of an opponent or enemy.
2. 2
   An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of an opponent or enemy.
3. 3
   An attempt to detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault.
4. 4
   A time in which one attacks; the offence of a battle.
5. 5
   The beginning of active operations on anything.
6. 6
   An attempt to exploit a vulnerability in a computer system.
7. 7
   Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side.
8. 8
   Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net.
9. 9
   The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team.
10. 10
    The sudden onset of a disease or condition.
11. 11
    An active episode of a chronic or recurrent disease.
12. 12
    The onset of a musical note, particularly with respect to the strength (and duration) of that onset.
13. 13
    The amount of time taken for the volume of an audio signal to go from zero to maximum level (e.g. an audio waveform representing a snare drum hit would feature a very fast attack, whereas that of a wave washing to shore would feature a slow attack).
14. 14
    The initial sensory impact of a wine.
15. 15
    Short for heart attack.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Italian a- Proto-Indo-European *dews-? Proto-Indo-European *dus- Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwís Latin dis- Old French des- Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- Proto-Germanic *stikaną Proto-West Germanic *stekander. Old French atachier Old French destachier Middle French destacherbor. Italian distaccare Italian staccare Italian attaccarebor. French attaquer French attaquebor. English attack 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”)).

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: atack,atatck,attacck,attackk,attakc,attcak,tatack

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of attack - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

Frequently Asked Questions