What does attack mean

Crossword clues for attack

attack

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

attack

I.noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a bomb attack

▪ No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb attack.

a critic attacks sth

▪ Many critics attacked Seurat’s paintings for their lack of colour.

a knife attack

▪ He was sentenced to 9 years in prison for a knife attack.

a panic attack

▪ He had had a panic attack in the street.

a plan of attack (=a plan to attack or achieve something)

▪ At this stage, you go back to the office and work on a plan of attack.

a racial attack

▪ He was the victim of a racial attack.

a revenge attack

▪ The camp was burned down, apparently in a revenge attack.

a surprise attack

▪ Instead they launched a successful surprise attack on the castle.

a terrorist attack/bombing/act

▪ More than 50 people were injured in the terrorist attack.

a violent attack

▪ Blacks were more often victims of violent attacks than other ethnic groups.

a wave of violence/attacks/bombings

▪ The incident triggered a wave of violence.

all-out war/attack/offensive etc

an attack of nerves (=a time when you feel very nervous)

▪ Harrison had an attack of nerves before the match.

arson attack

▪ The school was destroyed in an arson attack.

asthmatic attack

▪ an asthmatic attack

attack a target

▪ They have attacked military targets such as army camps and airfields.

brutal murder/attack/assault

▪ a brutal attack on a defenceless old man

carry out an attack

▪ It became clear that terrorists had carried out the attack.

carry out an attack

▪ It became clear that terrorists had carried out the attack.

cross-border attack/raid

denial of service attack

fierce attack/opposition/criticism etc

▪ The government’s policies came under fierce attack.

frenzied attack

▪ A woman was stabbed to death in a frenzied attack on her home tonight.

full frontal attack

▪ a full frontal attack on the government

full-scale attack/war/riot etc

have/suffer a heart attack

heart attack

▪ You almost gave me a heart attack there!

horrific crash/accident/attack etc

▪ a horrific plane crash

indiscriminate attacks/killing/violence/bombing etc

▪ terrorists responsible for indiscriminate killing

launch an attack/assault/offensive

▪ The press launched a vicious attack on the President.

lead an attack/assault

▪ Nelson preferred to lead the attack himself from the front.

line of fire/attack/movement etc (=the direction in which someone shoots, attacks, moves etc)

▪ I was directly in the animal’s line of attack.

massive stroke/heart attack etc

▪ He suffered a massive stroke.

mortar attack

▪ a mortar attack

mount an assault/attack

▪ Guerrillas have mounted an attack on the capital.

physically attack sb

▪ It was the first time he had ever physically attacked anybody.

pre-emptive strike/attack

▪ a series of pre-emptive strikes on guerrilla bases

scathing attack/remark/comment etc

▪ a scathing attack on the government’s planned tax increases

suffer a heart attack/stroke

▪ He died after suffering a massive heart attack.

veiled attack on

▪ His speech is being seen as a veiled attack on asylum-seekers.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

brutal

▪ Mr Purohit, a leading figure in the Hindu community, had been murdered, in a brutal attack.

▪ Father finds son on ground after brutal attack.

▪ It was a brutal and mindless attack.

▪ Detectives spoke of their disgust at the brutal attack.

fierce

▪ The government was blamed and its tariff and trade policies came under fierce attack.

▪ The fiercest attacks were directed not at Levin, but at Lautenberg, who was facing reelection the next year.

▪ Since the mid-1960s Walcott's views have come under fierce attack.

▪ Cannon and his co-workers launched a fierce attack on James.

▪ The conference's failure to set limits came under fierce attack from environmentalists.

massive

▪ The patient had come to the hospital for tests, and suffered a massive heart attack.

▪ A Colonel Herbinger, drunk at the time, thought in his stupor that the enemy had launched a massive attack.

▪ The massive attacks work well for the opening movement, with its homage to Bach.

▪ Of course, he defied doctor's orders, and in 1977 he died of a massive heart attack, aged sixty.

▪ In parts of Lincolnshire, for example, the early seventeenth century saw a massive attack on the former open fields.

▪ Staff made frantic attempts to revive him but he is thought to have suffered a massive heart attack.

nuclear

▪ Consequently, they might remove the base, thereby removing the reason for a nuclear attack.

▪ The nation could ill afford a logy commander-in-chief in the event of nuclear attack.

▪ My relatives and friends lived in fear of nuclear attack or bombardment by chemical weapons.

▪ But like the old joke, they prepare for nuclear attack by gathering the wagons into a circle.

▪ In any case the vast base was vulnerable to nuclear attack.

▪ Nor will such a network of battle stations immediately end the threat of nuclear attack.

▪ He was executive officer aboard the Honolulu, a nuclear attack submarine.

panic

▪ It's as if she has panic attacks and a kind of phobia.

▪ Richard was having a panic attack on Fifth Avenue, clutching a lamppost with arms that bulged like tin drums.

▪ Thirty years ago we heard nothing about panic attacks, or anorexia or self-mutilation.

▪ Certainly about ten percent of the population has suffered at least one panic attack.

▪ Before the storm, I was full of anxiety, panic attacks, good and bad days.

▪ Once you understand the panic attack problem, these particular fears of public places make perfect sense.

▪ It has also been proven to combat anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and panic attacks.

▪ It was manifesting itself in insomnia, panic attacks.

personal

▪ Nothing could be more calculated to provoke fresh accusations or evidence than a personal attack on Cathy Woodhead.

▪ But after weeks of personal attacks on the president, such speculation seems premature.

▪ Respond to personal attack by getting angry or upset.

▪ There was nothing personal in our attack.

▪ Candidates also are resorting to personal attacks to get attention because their positions on most substantive issues are remarkably similar.

▪ Perhaps with reason, Brown has regarded most legislative reform proposals as a personal attack on him.

▪ I read message after message spouting racist doctrines, discriminatory diatribes and personal attacks.

racial

▪ It looks at some appalling racial attacks, including a skinhead raid last June on a Gypsy camp near Naples.

▪ These precautions are essential because of the danger of racial attacks.

▪ We will continue to ensure that the full force of the law is used to deal with racial attacks.

▪ After he was elected in November he revealed that he been the subject of racial attacks during his campaign.

▪ Their gathering for the bus ride home is often the occasion for a racial attack.

■ NOUN

air

▪ Coming in the midst of a presidential campaign, the air attack has generated the inevitable political rhetoric, bombast and pressure.

▪ The air attack occurred in August 1988 during a campaign against the Kurdish separatist movement.

▪ He also underlines further the riskiness of the Yamamoto plan, pointing to the high vulnerability of carriers to air attack.

▪ There were no trains and the roads were under constant air attack.

▪ This was the possibility of a sneak enemy air attack on Tokyo, the capital of the Empire.

▪ Meanwhile, the air attacks continue.

▪ He will need to sell his candidacy and meet the Democratic air attack with regularly televised speeches from the Senate floor.

arson

▪ Richard Fielding, 21, has admitted an arson attack that killed seven members of the same family.

▪ The hut at North Park, Darlington, was destroyed in an arson attack last year.

▪ Who will pay?: Insurance fears after school arson attack.

▪ Party workers have been rallying around since last Thursday night's arson attack which caused tens of thousands worth of damage.

▪ Ten classrooms were gutted in the arson attack, and three fire fighters were treated for smoke inhalation.

▪ It's expected to be some weeks before all the shops damaged in the arson attack can be re-opened.

▪ Read in studio An airman who helped destroy evidence after a twenty million pound arson attack has been fined fifteen hundred pounds.

bomb

▪ The commando had been planning a car bomb attack in Seville during its April fair.

▪ From June 1944 the flying bomb attacks were less concentrated spatially, but even more destructive.

▪ This development follows the first suicide bomb attack for two years.

▪ Police were also seeking a motive for an attempted pipe bomb attack on a house in Ballymoney, Co Antrim.

heart

▪ He later was rector of two other Norfolk parishes and retired in 1979 after a heart attack.

▪ This study is the first to evaluate the role of food and fluids in preventing fainting and heart attacks in air travelers.

▪ A 40-year-old man was airlifted to hospital from an Isle of Man-bound ferry after having a heart attack.

▪ The court of appeals upheld the sentences for the two remaining after one died of a heart attack.

▪ A heart attack, she said, and rang off before he could ask questions.

▪ Bunn was released from trial during the summer after suffering a heart attack.

▪ It was Anderson who discovered Tilden dead of a heart attack in June of 1953.

knife

▪ Tensions were already running high after the knife attack on an Arsenal supporter the night before.

missile

▪ Gates warned that Hussein probably expects another cruise missile attack.

▪ If they wished, they could have ordered an artillery barrage or missile attack on the vehicles.

▪ But the news broadcast after the first missile attack failed to mention it.

▪ Instead, the arsenal ship would have relied on other warships to defend it against missile attacks.

▪ Chief Petty Officer John Strange was badly injured during a missile attack.

▪ The Pentagon ordered up cruise missile attacks from two of the six cruise-missile equipped warships on patrol in the Persian Gulf.

mortar

▪ At 21 months, little Mirza is the youngest to be brought here from the mortar attacks and shelling around Sarajevo.

revenge

▪ The Resistance firebombed the house and daubed swastikas on the walls in a revenge attack.

▪ Many of them, however, are already out of prison, and there have been no reported revenge attacks by Hezbollah.

▪ Detectives suspect the van bombing was a revenge attack.

▪ Letter bomb: Revenge attack on farmer jailed for cruelty.

▪ The Madurans launched revenge attacks and the situation deteriorated.

surprise

▪ Speed of pursuit and a surprise attack gave Abram victory.

▪ In the surprise attack, they torched the town and rounded up its inhabitants.

▪ This would increase the warning time of any possible surprise attack.

▪ No world leader would try to launch a surprise attack because the response would be terminal for his own nation.

▪ His surprise attack routed the Chaos forces in the woods around the White Tower.

▪ That could provide clues about who was behind the surprise attack.

▪ It was also important to demonstrate the ability of nuclear forces to ride out a surprise attack.

▪ Officially you are all going to be victims of a surprise attack on the rescue party by the native inhabitants.

■ VERB

come

▪ Explain why the Keynesian model has come under increasing attack in recent years. 6.

▪ Hiding under a seat in a movie theater that has come under attack by a crazed gunman.

▪ Modern methods of livestock farming have come under severe attack since the 1989 outbreak of salmonella.

▪ Alarcon said the man had illegally entered the country sometime prior to the aircraft coming under attack.

▪ The regimes of both units came under considerable attack from the interviewees.

▪ Meanwhile Mr Lamont came under attack for spending the whole of August away from his desk.

▪ Air pollution and energy conservation aside, private vehicles also come under attack when we consider rural and urban environments.

▪ The original Bill came under strong attack and fell when John Major called an April election.

launch

▪ The World Champion launched a direct attack in the dying moments of the first session.

▪ The doctor is launching a direct attack at the source of the allegations -- a lawsuit.

▪ Grant launched an all-out attack on these defenses during the gusty,, rainy, and misty dawn of May 12.

▪ Realizing that he was the better fighter, I decided to gain the upper hand by launching a surprise attack.

▪ In response, the country launched an all-out attack on Freetown from Lungi airport on the outskirts of the city.

▪ Lord Lane also launched a strong attack on the crisis in the crown and county courts.

▪ You may even have to launch a complete attack before you can spell out your future intentions.

mount

▪ Three men had mounted an incompetent attack on Trent at Bacalar.

▪ Prevention is quiet, but politicians who mount all-out attacks on symptoms generate great publicity.

▪ Thirdly, there was now a legal precedent upon which to mount attacks on politically inspired censorship.

▪ Instead, the Republicans are expected to mount legal attacks on the environmental measures.

▪ He then turned on the assembled crowd and mounted a scathing verbal attack on them.

▪ North overcame the West 2-0 rather more easily, West hardly mounting a worthwhile attack.

▪ No Soviet figure, let alone such a prominent one, had ever mounted such an attack in the Western press.

▪ They said the case was prejudiced by a campaign by the Communist party to mount a political attack on Fiat.

suffer

▪ He suffered a heart attack early in the game.

▪ In the midst of a sermon, he suffered an apoplectic attack and remained unconscious for the rest of his life.

▪ And in Dusseldorf police said a member of the Republican party suffered a heart attack after being beaten up by demonstrators.

▪ Now I, suffering attacks of insecurity as they grow away from me, need to clutch them in the night.

▪ The family travelled to Brno and to Olomouc, but nevertheless both Mozart and his sister suffered mild attacks of smallpox.

▪ He was released from trial during the summer, after suffering a heart attack.

▪ These children had suffered 25 attacks between them over a 59-day period.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

biological weapons/warfare/attack etc

▪ He knew then that the mystery of Titron was only partly explained by the secret biological warfare establishment.

▪ Regional conflicts - along with the proliferation of missiles and nuclear, chemical and biological weapons - present growing dangers.

▪ Schwarzkopf strongly defended his field commanders from allegations that they were careless about chemical and biological weapons.

▪ We tend to focus on nuclear but chemical and biological weapons, while not as devastating, would be plenty bad.

blistering attack/criticism etc

▪ Bates also launched a blistering attack on the sports minister Kate Hoey.

▪ The most humiliating thing for Mr Major was not the fact that it was Mr Lamont who made the blistering attack.

▪ The religious press in the first decade of pentecostal history teems with blistering attacks on the new movement.

come under attack/fire/scrutiny etc

▪ At a deeper level, however, the concept of the mentally abnormal female offender has come under scrutiny.

▪ He added that to be accurate, the aircraft would have to risk coming under fire.

▪ He said the company came under scrutiny along with other insurers after allegations were first made against Metropolitan Life in 1993.

▪ In addition to facing the ire of frustrated riders, Muni has also come under fire recently from federal safety officials.

▪ Patrick is generally regarded as having been an aggressive enforcer of civil-rights laws and often came under fire from conservatives.

▪ Police came under attack from bottles, bricks and plastic crates.

▪ Sir Derek came under fire from several shareholders.

▪ Their vehicle came under fire but was not hit.

concerted effort/action/attack etc

▪ As part of a concerted effort to reinvigorate residential communities, 2, 000 new houses have sprung up since 1990.

▪ He said the pledge was meaningless unless a concerted effort was made to find legislative time for outstanding recommendations.

▪ However, with a concerted effort, this research could be completed within 2 years.

▪ If we are going to maintain the modern world, then concerted action for the future is urgently needed.

▪ Prompt response to requests would help to ease the pressure as would a concerted effort being made to increase membership.

▪ She has also made a concerted effort to improve her knowledge.

▪ The end of the story, of course, is that the students' concerted efforts around the nation worked.

▪ This change is part of a concerted effort to raise our profile with our international customers.

copycat crime/attack etc

▪ However, 44% of you feel that these reports should leave the gory details out and 39% feel they encourage copycat crimes.

▪ What about fingerprints, copycat crimes and serial murders?

frontal attack/assault

▪ A full frontal assault right in the snout.

▪ But the frontal assault on Cobdenite assumptions was the challenge to free trade itself.

▪ Efforts should then be entirely concentrated on the frontal attack.

▪ Gorbad, still weak from the wound suffered at Grunberg, was unprepared for a frontal assault.

▪ If we were fit, a frontal assault would be suicide.

▪ The congress went further, straying close to a frontal attack on the ruling party.

▪ They are a frontal assault of the Devil not only upon believers but on human beings everywhere.

give sb/have a heart attack

▪ Doctors at Leicester Royal Infirmary are to assess the benefits of giving magnesium to heart attack victims immediately after an attack.

▪ I will surely give some one a heart attack ... I have varicose veins in my legs.

▪ That ought to give Francois a heart attack.

smash-and-grab raid/attack etc

stinging attack/report/letter etc

▪ Mr Smith launched a stinging attack on John Major, ridiculing him as a man who has lost control of events.

▪ The company which used to give £40,000 a year to Tory funds, launched a stinging attack on Government policies.

▪ What upsets her much more than the two columns is a stinging letter to the editor published in the sports pages.

suicide attack/mission/bombing etc

▪ As Delbert saw it, they went on suicide missions, which was just the kind of action he wanted.

▪ His suicide mission came as a surprise to more people than just his family.

▪ The powers-that-be decide to send you on a suicide mission - nice peeps, aren't they?

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪ a number of brutal and unprovoked attacks on gays

▪ an asthma attack

▪ Eleven people were injured in a rocket attack on Sunday night.

▪ Fong did not suffer a physical attack, but he was humiliated by the three men.

▪ France launched a bitter attack on EU proposals to reduce farm subsidies.

▪ International terrorists have mounted an attack aimed at disrupting the huge tourist industry here.

▪ Malaria often doesn't go away completely, and a patent may suffer from repeated attacks over several years.

▪ missile attacks on civilian targets

▪ New statistics show a further increase in attacks on women.

▪ O'Brien promised to continue his attacks on the film industry.

▪ Once again the oil companies have come under attack from environmentalists.

▪ One of my students suddenly had an attack of asthma and I didn't know what to do.

▪ Police say it was a particularly nasty attack.

▪ She was left unconscious after an attack in her own home.

▪ The attack took place as she was walking home.

▪ The caller warned that the attacks will continue until the demands are met.

▪ The city is exposed and vulnerable to air attack.

▪ Their home was damaged in the attack.

▪ There was no indication of a sexual attack.

▪ They finally caught the gang responsible for the armed attacks on foreigners in Dakar.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪ At this time the Union center, having reformed after falling back under the early attacks, was still standing fast.

▪ But most animals, seeking to avoid attack from predators, use disguise in a quite different and more cautious way.

▪ Hiding under a seat in a movie theater that has come under attack by a crazed gunman.

▪ Lumbering was an attack operation, as thoroughly strategic and disciplined as a military siege.

▪ Officially you are all going to be victims of a surprise attack on the rescue party by the native inhabitants.

▪ The air attack occurred in August 1988 during a campaign against the Kurdish separatist movement.

▪ Your father died early this morning of a heart attack.

II.verb