ASSAIL

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does assail mean? 

• ASSAIL (verb)
  The verb ASSAIL has 3 senses:

1. attack someone physically or emotionally

2. launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with

3. attack in speech or writing

  Familiarity information: ASSAIL used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ASSAIL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they assail    ... he / she / it assails   
Past simple: assailed   
Past participle: assailed   
-ing form: assailing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Attack someone physically or emotionally

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

assail; assault; attack; set on

Context example:

Nightmares assailed him regularly

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assail"):

molest (harass or assault sexually; make indecent advances to)

desecrate; outrage; profane; violate (violate the sacred character of a place or language)

assault; dishonor; dishonour; outrage; rape; ravish; violate (force (someone) to have sex against their will)

beset; set upon (assail or attack on all sides:)

jump (make a sudden physical attack on)

reassail (assail again)

savage (attack brutally and fiercely)

blindside (attack or hit on or from the side where the attacked person's view is obstructed)

rush (attack suddenly)

bulldog (attack viciously and ferociously)

set; sic (urge to attack someone)

bait (attack with dogs or set dogs upon)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

assailant (someone who attacks)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

assail; attack

Context example:

Serbian forces assailed Bosnian towns all week

Hypernyms (to "assail" is one way to...):

contend; fight; struggle (be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight)

Verb group:

aggress; attack (take the initiative and go on the offensive)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assail"):

bomb; bombard (throw bombs at or attack with bombs)

bust; raid (search without warning, make a sudden surprise attack on)

torpedo (attack or hit with torpedoes)

cannonade (attack with cannons or artillery)

strafe (attack with machine guns or cannon fire from a low-flying plane)

beleaguer; besiege; circumvent; hem in; surround (surround so as to force to give up)

invade; occupy (march aggressively into another's territory by military force for the purposes of conquest and occupation)

storm; surprise (attack by storm; attack suddenly)

gas (attack with gas; subject to gas fumes)

counterattack; counterstrike (make a counterattack)

hit; strike (make a strategic, offensive, assault against an enemy, opponent, or a target)

pelt; pepper (attack and bombard with or as if with missiles)

submarine (attack by submarine)

blitz (attack suddenly and without warning)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

assailable (not defended or capable of being defended)

assailant (someone who attacks)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Attack in speech or writing

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

assail; assault; attack; lash out; round; snipe

Context example:

The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker

Hypernyms (to "assail" is one way to...):

criticise; criticize; knock; pick apart (find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assail"):

claw (attack as if with claws)

vitriol (subject to bitter verbal abuse)

rip (criticize or abuse strongly and violently)

whang (attack forcefully)

barrage; bombard (address with continuously or persistently, as if with a barrage)

blister; scald; whip (subject to harsh criticism)

rubbish (attack strongly)

abuse; blackguard; clapperclaw; shout (use foul or abusive language towards)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

assailant (someone who attacks)

 Context examples 

He smiled bitterly at the incongruity of it, and was assailed by doubts.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But even his tremendous will could not overcome the dissolution that assailed it. That will of his was breaking down. He was fainting.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The world’s oceans are already being overfished, and assailed by a rising tide of plastic waste, as well as other pollutants.

(Oceans running out of oxygen at unprecedented rate, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Hitherto I had blamed only the servants, but now a terrible fear began to assail me.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

They only laughed and poked sticks at him, which he promptly assailed with his teeth till he realized that that was what they wanted.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The same arguments assailed her again; she must go, she should go, and they would not hear of a refusal.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

So looks the Shakespearean who is confronted by a rancid Baconian, or the astronomer who is assailed by a flat-earth fanatic.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To attack the first is not to assail the last.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He walked slowly and cautiously, prepared to be assailed at any moment.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil, I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)