assailant
Americannoun
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of assailant
From the Middle French word assaillant, dating back to 1525–35. See assail, -ant
Explanation
A wife who sends a vase sailing at her husband's head might be considered an assailant, or attacker. Or, they might be playing a game of dodgeball with the furniture. Assailant comes from the Latin ad- meaning "at" and salire meaning "to leap." Leap at someone and you're an assailant — someone who attacks. You'll usually hear this word when lawyers or police are talking about attacks, because most people use its synonym attacker in casual conversation. Have you ever been attacked by ants, looking down to see your foot covered in them? Think of the word ant when you spell the word assailant to remember its ending.
Vocabulary lists containing assailant
Fever 1793
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Franklin Roosevelt, "Four Freedoms" (1941)
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This Week in Words : December 23 - 29, 2017
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“When Doe 6 sees Assailant 5 on campus, she becomes scared and sometimes physically sick,” it states.
From Washington Post • Nov. 30, 2017
Assailant Thomson and Victim Meuler, both automobile men, had taken to each other at their first chance meeting two years ago.
From Time Magazine Archive
Assailant and assailed were in equilibrio, and personal equilibrium could not be restored.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 099, March, 1876 by Various
Broglio is all assembled, 35,000 strong; his Assailant, with the Hereditary Prince come in, counts rather under 30,000.
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 19 by Carlyle, Thomas
And as an ev'ning dragon came, Assailant on the perched roosts And nests in order rang'd Of tame villatic fowl.
From Familiar Quotations A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature by Bartlett, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
