Dictionary

assailant en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /əˈseɪlənt/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Old French assaillant, from the verb assaillir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“to, towards”) + salīre (“to jump”). Equivalent to assail + -ant.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Assailing; attacking.
   • But he though blind of sight, / Despis'd, and thought extinguish'd quite, / With inward eyes illuminated, / His fiery virtue roused / From under ashes into sudden flame, / And as an evening dragon came, / Assailant on the perched roosts / And nests in order ranged / Of tame villatic fowl, but as an eagle / His cloudless thunder bolted on their heads. 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, line 1687 to 1696:

assailant en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /əˈseɪlənt/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Old French assaillant, from the verb assaillir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“to, towards”) + salīre (“to jump”). Equivalent to assail + -ant.

Meanings

1. Someone who attacks or assails another violently, or criminally.
   • I’ll put myself in poor and mean attire, And with a kind of umber smirch my face; The like do you; so shall we pass along, And never stir assailants. c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
   • […] just as he leaned over to get the stick, I seized him with both hands by the collar, and, with a vigorous and sudden snatch, I brought my assailant harmlessly, his full length, on the not over clean ground—for we were now in the cow yard. 1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 17, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC, part I (Life as a Slave), page 244:
   • In the village of Aqraba, the Sheikh Saadeh Mosque was set on fire before the assailants graffitied the words “price tag” and “revenge” on its walls. 2018, Edo Konrad, “Living in the constant shadow of settler violence”, in +972 Magazine:
   • In the middle of a crowded street a young man would be attacked, stripped, thrashed, and left bleeding on the pavement; in fifteen seconds it was all over and the assailants had disappeared. 1935, Christopher Isherwood, chapter 8, in Mr. Norris Changes Trains, Penguin, published 1961, page 89:
   • […] commonly some of us used to get up a tree to look out for any assailant, or kidnapper, that might come upon us; for they sometimes took those opportunities of our parents absence to attack and carry off as many as they could seize. 1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 2, in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, volume 1, London: for the author, page 47:
2. (broadly, figuratively) A hostile critic or opponent.
   • 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne and Son and T. Cadell, Volume 5, Book 9, Chapter 3, p. 41, […] the assailants of the quill have their honour as much at heart as the assailants of the sword.

Forms

Synonyms

attacker

Translations (49)

fi hyökkääjä (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · no overfallsmann (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · da angriber (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · sl napadalka (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · kk шабуылдаушы (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · ka თავდამსხმელი (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · nl aanrander (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · it aggressore (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · de Angreifer (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · mk на́паѓач (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · kk шабуылшы (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · it assalitore (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · ar مُهَاجِم (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · fi päällekarkaaja (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · pl agresor (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · mi kaiuruhi (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · mi kaihuaki (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · de Angreiferin (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · ko 가해자 (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · mi kaipatu (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · nb angriper (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · it aggreditrice (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · mk на́пасник (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · tr saldırgan (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · ru напа́вший (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · is árásarmaður (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · cmn 攻擊者 /攻击者 (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · fr assaillant (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · pl napadający (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · ru агре́ссор (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · ca assaltador (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · az təcavüzkar (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · es asaltante (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · pl atakujący (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · bg нападател (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · sl napadalec (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · cs útočník (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · fr agresseur (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · da overfaldsmand (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · ru напада́ющий (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · la oppugnātor (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · ar مُعْتَدٍ (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · pt agressor (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · it assalitrice (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · ja 加害者 (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · pl napastnik (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · hu támadó (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · sh napadač (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally) · es atacante (an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally)