Link Centre Dictionary

assail

as·sail

UK/əˈseɪl/ US/ʌˈseɪl/ fairly common

verb

1.

attack someone physically or emotionally

  • “The mugger assaulted the woman”
  • “Nightmares assailed him regularly”
Synonyms
2.

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”
Synonyms
Antonyms
3.

attack in speech or writing

  • “The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English assailen, from Old French assaillir, assalir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“at, towards”) + salīre (“jump”). See also assault.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.