assault

UK: /əˈsɔːlt/ US: /əˈsɔlt/ ,(ə sôlt′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

as•sault /əˈsɔlt/   n. 

1. a sudden violent attack;
   onslaught:
   [countable] launched an assault on the enemy stronghold.
2. Law Law. an unlawful physical attack upon another, esp. an attempt or threat to do bodily harm:
   [countable] Several assaults with deadly weapons.
   [uncountable] convicted of assault.
3. Law [countable] rape¹ (defs. 1, 2).

v. [~ + object]

4. to make an assault upon:
   The marines assaulted the hilltop.
5. to attack unlawfully;
   attempt to do bodily harm to another:
   They assaulted the police officers.
6. Law rape¹ (def. 6).

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

as•sault  (ə sôlt′), n. 

1. a sudden, violent attack;
   onslaught:
   an assault on tradition.
2. 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.
3. Military the stage of close combat in an attack.
4. rape¹.

v.t. 

5. to make an assault upon;
   attack;
   assail.

• Medieval Latin assaltus (replacing Latin assultus), equivalent. to Latin as- as- + saltus a leap (sal(īre) to leap + -tus suffix of verb, verbal action)
• Old French
• Middle English asaut 1200–50

as•sault′a•ble, adj. 
as•sault′er, n. 
Synonyms

• 1. onset, charge; invasion, aggression.
• 5. See attack. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

assault / əˈsɔːlt/ noun

1. a violent attack, either physical or verbal
2. an intentional or reckless act that causes another person to expect to be subjected to immediate and unlawful violence
   Compare battery4, assault and battery
3. the culmination of a military attack, in which fighting takes place at close quarters
4. (as modifier): assault troops
5. rape or attempted rape

verb (transitive)

1. to make an assault upon
2. to rape or attempt to rape

Etymology: 13th Century: from Old French asaut, from Vulgar Latin assaltus (unattested), from assalīre (unattested) to leap upon; see assail

asˈsaultive adjective