Attack

How to spell attack

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce attack

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does attack mean?

1. verbTo take aggressive or violent action against a person, place, or thing.
2. nounAn aggressive or violent act against someone or something, or a sudden onset of illness.

Attack in a sentence

• verb

  The rebels planned to attack the supply convoy at dawn.

• noun

  The city strengthened its defences after the cyber attack last spring.

• verb

  Critics began to attack the new policy within hours of its release.

• noun

  He was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack.

Where does attack come from?

Language of origin: Italian

The word arrived in English in the early 1600s from the French attaquer, which the French had themselves borrowed from the Italian attaccare. The Italian verb originally meant 'to join, fasten, or attach', and the fuller phrase attaccare battaglia meant 'to join battle', that is, to engage an enemy in fighting. Over time the combative half of that phrase took over, so the verb came to mean simply 'to set upon' or 'to assault'. The same Italian root also gave English the gentler word 'attach', so attack and attach are close cousins that split apart in meaning. The doubled 't' and the hard 'ck' ending both reflect that Romance origin, and remembering the link to 'attach' (also double t) helps fix the spelling.

How the word is built

• at- (toward, from Latin ad-)
• tack (from Italian attaccare: to join, fasten, engage)