as·sail

(ə-sāl′)

tr.v. as·sailed, as·sail·ing, as·sails

1. To attack violently, as with blows or military force; assault.

2. To attack verbally, as with ridicule or censure. See Synonyms at attack.

3. To trouble or beset, as with questions or doubts.

[Middle English assailen, from Old French asalir, asaill-, from Vulgar Latin *assalīre, variant of Latin assilīre, to jump on : ad-, onto; see ad- + salīre, to jump; see sel- in Indo-European roots.]

as·sail′a·ble adj.

as·sail′a·bil′i·ty n.

as·sail′er n.

as·sail′ment n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

assailer

noun

One who starts a hostile action:

aggressor, assailant, assaulter, attacker.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Encouraged by this first victory, he freed himself from the claws of his assailers and, leaping over the bushes along the road, ran swiftly across the fields.

View in context

Without any proper security solutions, the data that resides Datacenter may prone to attack by any assailer which ultimately results in data/ resource loss for the subscribers based on the service model preferred.

Packet resonance strategy: a spoof attack detection and prevention mechanism in cloud computing environment

Mazzucco's narrator investigates the causes for the assailer's angst: nostalgia for times past, for example, a time that his wife no longer desires.

The making and unmaking of the eternal city: a history of violence on an everyday Perfect Day

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