According to WorldAtlas, Canada is the only non-European country to make its top ten list of coffee consumers. The United States at a distant 25 on the list.
ATTACK
attack, tone-beginning
(noun) a decisive manner of beginning a musical tone or phrase
attack
(noun) an offensive move in a sport or game; “they won the game with a 10-hit attack in the 9th inning”
attack, attempt
(noun) the act of attacking; “attacks on women increased last year”; “they made an attempt on his life”
approach, attack, plan of attack
(noun) ideas or actions intended to deal with a problem or situation; “his approach to every problem is to draw up a list of pros and cons”; “an attack on inflation”; “his plan of attack was misguided”
attack, onslaught, onset, onrush
(noun) (military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons); “the attack began at dawn”
attack
(noun) strong criticism; “he published an unexpected attack on my work”
fire, attack, flak, flack, blast
(noun) intense adverse criticism; “Clinton directed his fire at the Republican Party”; “the government has come under attack”; “don’t give me any flak”
attack
(noun) the onset of a corrosive or destructive process (as by a chemical agent); “the film was sensitive to attack by acids”; “open to attack by the elements”
attack
(noun) a sudden occurrence of an uncontrollable condition; “an attack of diarrhea”
attack
(verb) begin to injure; “The cancer cells are attacking his liver”; “Rust is attacking the metal”
attack
(verb) set to work upon; turn one’s energies vigorously to a task; “I attacked the problem as soon as I got out of bed”
attack, round, assail, lash out, snipe, assault
(verb) attack in speech or writing; “The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker”
attack, aggress
(verb) take the initiative and go on the offensive; “The Serbs attacked the village at night”; “The visiting team started to attack”
attack, assail
(verb) 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”
assail, assault, set on, attack
(verb) attack someone physically or emotionally; “The mugger assaulted the woman”; “Nightmares assailed him regularly”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
attack (plural attacks)
An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of opponent or enemy.
An attempt to detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault.
A time in which one attacks; the offence of a battle.
(informal, by extension) The beginning of active operations on anything.
(computing) An attempt to exploit a vulnerability in a computer system.
(cricket) Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side.
(volleyball) Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net.
Synonyms: hit, spike
(lacrosse) The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team.
(medicine) The sudden onset of a disease or condition.
An active episode of a chronic or recurrent disease.
(music) The onset of a musical note, particularly with respect to the strength (and duration) of that onset.
Antonyms: decay, release
(audio) The amount of time it takes 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).
Synonyms
• See also attack
Hyponyms
• arson attack
• birthday attack
• cryptanalytic attack
• cryptographic attack
• man-in-the-middle attack
• pincer attack
• preimage attack
• second-preimage attack
• smudge attack
Verb
attack (third-person singular simple present attacks, present participle attacking, simple past and past participle attacked)
(transitive) To apply violent force to someone or something.
(transitive) To aggressively challenge a person, idea, etc, with words (particularly in newspaper headlines, because it typesets into less space than "criticize" or similar).
(transitive) To begin to affect; to act upon injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste.
(transitive) To deal with something in a direct way; to set to work upon.
(transitive, cricket) To aim balls at the batsman’s wicket.
(intransitive, cricket) To set a field, or bowl in a manner designed to get wickets.
(intransitive, cricket) To bat aggressively, so as to score runs quickly.
(soccer) To move forward in an active attempt to score a point, as opposed to trying not to concede.
(cycling) To accelerate quickly in an attempt to get ahead of the other riders.
Synonyms
• See also attack
Source: Wiktionary
At*tack", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Attacked; p. pr. & vb. n. Attacking.] Etym: [F. attaquer, orig. another form of attacher to attack: cf. It. attacare to fasten, attack. See Attach, Tack a small nail.]
1. To fall upon with force; to assail, as with force and arms; to assault. "Attack their lines." Dryden.
2. To assail with unfriendly speech or writing; to begin a controversy with; to attempt to overthrow or bring into disrepute, by criticism or satire; to censure; as, to attack a man, or his opinions, in a pamphlet.
3. To set to work upon, as upon a task or problem, or some object of labor or investigation.
4. To begin to affect; to begin to act upon, injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste. On the fourth of March he was attacked by fever. Macaulay. Hydrofluoric acid . . . attacks the glass. B. Stewart.
Syn.
– To Attack, Assail, Assault, Invade. These words all denote a violent onset; attack being the generic term, and the others specific forms of attack. To attack is to commence the onset; to assail is to make a sudden and violent attack, or to make repeated attacks; to assault (literally, to leap upon) is to attack physically by a had- to-hand approach or by unlawful and insulting violence; to invade is to enter by force on what belongs to another. Thus, a person may attack by offering violence of any kind; he may assail by means of missile weapons; he may assault by direct personal violence; a king may invade by marching an army into a country. Figuratively, we may say, men attack with argument or satire; they assail with abuse or reproaches; they may be assaulted by severe temptations; the rights of the people may be invaded by the encroachments of the crown.
At*tack", v. i.
Definition: To make an onset or attack.
At*tack", n. Etym: [Cf. F. attaque.]
1. The act of attacking, or falling on with force or violence; an onset; an assault; -- opposed to defense.
2. An assault upon one's feelings or reputation with unfriendly or bitter words.
3. A setting to work upon some task, etc.
4. An access of disease; a fit of sickness.
5. The beginning of corrosive, decomposing, or destructive action, by a chemical agent.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
23 February 2025
BARGAIN
(noun) an advantageous purchase; “she got a bargain at the auction”; “the stock was a real buy at that price”
Coffee Trivia
