assault
Americannoun
-
assaults
plural
-
a sudden, violent attack; onslaught.
an assault on tradition.
- Synonyms:
- aggression, invasion, charge, onset
-
Law. an unlawful physical attack upon another; an attempt or offer to do violence to another, with or without battery, as by holding a stone or club in a threatening manner.
-
Military. the stage of close combat in an attack.
-
rape.
verb (used with object)
-
assaults,
present (3rd person singular)
-
assaulted,
past participle, past
-
assaulting
present participle
noun
-
a violent attack, either physical or verbal
-
law an intentional or reckless act that causes another person to expect to be subjected to immediate and unlawful violence Compare battery assault and battery
-
-
the culmination of a military attack, in which fighting takes place at close quarters
-
( as modifier )
assault troops
-
-
rape or attempted rape
verb
-
to make an assault upon
-
to rape or attempt to rape
Synonym Usage
See attack.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
assaulternoun
-
nonassaultnoun
-
counterassaultverb (used with object)
-
assaultableadjective
-
assaultiveadjective
-
unassaultableadjective
-
unassaultedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
assaultsimple
-
assaultssimple
-
have assaultedperfect
-
has assaultedperfect
-
am assaultingprogressive
-
are assaultingprogressive
-
is assaultingprogressive
-
have been assaultingperfect progressive
-
has been assaultingperfect progressive
Past
-
assaultedsimple
-
had assaultedperfect
-
was assaultingprogressive
-
were assaultingprogressive
-
had been assaultingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of assault
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English asaut, from Old French, from Medieval Latin assaltus “attacked,” past participle of assalīre “to attack, jump on,” replacing Latin assilīre, both ultimately from Latin as- as- + salīre “to jump, leap”
Explanation
An assault is an attack. Getting punched, yelled at, or bombed are all types of assault. To assault is to attack or bombard someone in some way. Fighter planes can make an aerial assault, while ground troops make a ground assault. Verbal assault consists of insults, swearing, or threats. A strong criticism, like a negative review in the newspaper, is a written assault. Physical assault can range from getting pushed to getting shot. You could even say "That music is so loud it's assaulting my ear drums!"
Vocabulary lists containing assault
Hoot
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Nothing But the Truth
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Code Talker
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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.
See Examples For:
Byfield was never convicted of assault, but the dispute still had serious consequences.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
Defense planners share the same concern over a potential Russian assault on the Baltic states.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
Federal prosecutors initially filed assault charges against Sosa-Celis and another man, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, but dropped them after video evidence and witness statements cast doubt on Castro's account of what happened.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
The weather permitted only two more balls to be bowled, leaving Lawrence primed for a further assault on Sunday morning.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
Standing a few feet away was his dad, Mars, wearing a red beret and olive fatigues with the insignia of the Italian Special Forces, an assault rifle slung over his shoulder.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Since then, Colombia has stepped up air assaults and authorized joint military operations with the United States.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
His 2020 conviction and 23-year prison sentence in New York for other alleged assaults was overturned and juries were deadlocked in subsequent retrials involving one of his accusers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Earlier in the week, Zelensky said delays in receiving anti-ballistic systems from partners leads to "horrific casualties and destruction", saying that having a stronger interceptor capability "could have saved lives" in recent deadly assaults.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Oleh Shyriaiev, who now commands Ukraine’s 225th Separate Assault Regiment, which is holding back Russian assaults in the southeast.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Before the yellow fever epidemic, even the doctors who disagreed with Rush on medical matters would have defended him against Cobbett’s irrational assaults.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected for a second time President Donald Trump's attempt to overturn a jury judgment that he sexually assaulted and defamed writer E Jean Carroll.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Leto, in a statement shared with The Times on Wednesday, denied the allegations raised by the BBC documentary: “I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Hearing Platner deny that he assaulted Fifield, and seeing so many rally behind him and against her, was too much.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
A psychiatrist who decided he could not detain Valdo Calocane under the Mental Health Act after he assaulted a flatmate said the Nottingham attacks killer "wished to take control" during his assessment.
From BBC ● May 7, 2026
A wash of sudden heat assaulted them, heavy with the odors of ash, brimstone, and burnt meat.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Under Essayli, federal prosecutors in L.A. have aggressively charged protesters with assaulting and impeding the actions of immigration agents, filing more than 100 cases.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
A second man, 50-year-old Matt Styler, of Gosport, pleaded not guilty to assaulting a police officer.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
The Justice Department has opened an investigation into writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused President Trump of sexually assaulting her 30 years ago, people familiar with the probe said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
As ProPublica and others have reported, citizens — including Garcia Venegas — accused of assaulting officers have not always been charged with assault.
From Salon ● May 24, 2026
The fields—wherever they were, whatever they were—had gone darker, the grass yellowing under their feet, the rides rusting, the candy apples moldering, the smell of rot and wet and damp assaulting her nostrils.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
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.
