Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Attacking |
AttackingAdjective1. Disposed to attack. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "attacking" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Synonyms: AttackingSynonyms: assaultive (adj), attacking(a) (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Attack | Adjective: attacking;Verb: aggressive, offensive, obsidional. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Hello Mr. Bubbles, aliens are attacking my house (Lilo & Stitch; writing credit: Chris Sanders) The veil is not attacking you. (Runaway Bride; writing credit: Josann McGibbon; Sara Parriott) Yeah, of course but the only we do is attacking lonely guys on town and pick up 14-year olds (Jidder; writing credit: Christoffer Dahlin; Fredrik Klasson) You're attacking when you should be defending and you're defending when you should attack (Shadow Raiders; writing credit: Christy Marx; Katherine Lawrence) Now, the Trojans will be unfamiliar to you, since they play an attacking game (The Arsenal Stadium Mystery; writing credit: Donald Bull; Thorold Dickinson) | |
Lyrics | While we're attacking frontally, (So Long, Mom (A Song for World War III); performing artist: Tom Lehrer) Never see Will attacking em (Gettin' Jiggy Wit It; performing artist: Will Smith) | |
Movie/TV Titles | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Starfish attacking young oysters. Special equipment is used to dredge or scrape starfish off oyster beds in order to reduce the damage to the oysters. F&W 12,001. Credit: Fisheries. |  | Fire crew attacking small wildfire. Credit: Jerry Asher. |
 | Is assisted into a breeches bouy for transfer from USS Monaghan (DD-354) to USS Enterprise (CV-6) on 31 May 1942, while the ships were en route to the Midway area. He had been picked up by the destroyer on 28 May, after his TBD-1 "Devastator" torpedo bomber had crashed attempting to land on the carrier. Aviation Radioman First Class Charles T. Granat is partially visible behind Lindsey, waiting his turn on the "high line". The other member of the plane's crew, Chief Aviation Pilot Thomas E. Schaeffer is standing with hands in pockets, just to left of the transfer group. Lindsey and Granat were killed in action attacking the Japanese fleet on 4 June 1942. Credit: NAVY. |  | Engraving from Harper's "History of the Great Rebellion, 1860-65", page 449, depicting the U.S. Ram Queen of the West attacking the Confederate steamer City of Vicksburg off Vicksburg, Mississippi, on 2 February 1863. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Attacking a baggage train. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Wolf attacking animal. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | United States missiles attacking Marcus Island, surprising Japan. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Russian bear attacking Hitler at Stalingrad. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Odysseus attacking Circe, Etruscan mirror - New York / F. Eudell. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | A police dog attacking an African American man, as police break up crowd gathered outside court house, Jackson, Mississippi, for trial of sit-in demonstrators. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Swan attack" by Ewald Brunmüller Commentary: "A swan attacking near a lake." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Play | Caption |
 | A wild animal making aggressive attacking noises and breathing. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Tori Amos | Women must understand that simply attacking or hating all men is just another form of disempowerment. A woman has to realize that when she makes a man crawl it doesn't give her power. All it will do is make her puke eventually. Rather than say--all men are bastards-- let's say--all men are infants, until they decide to be men--Calling them bastards is boring at this stage. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Viruses cause disease by attacking the cells of the host (which can be a plant, animal, or human). (references) | |
Or, peptide therapy may jam the errant cells' receptors, preventing the cells from attacking myelin. (references) | ||
This procedure results in destruction of the immune system cells that were attacking myelin basic protein. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Tanzania | In one location, CUF youth members responded to the shootings by attacking police with machetes or stones, killing one police officer. (references) |
Macedonia | The NLA used religious sites--both Orthodox and Muslim--as military bases and firing positions, in an attempt to deter security forces from attacking. (references) | |
Albania | In June the SP held a major election rally in Tirana that was met with a counterrally by the DP. The police detained more than a dozen DP supporters after they allegedly began attacking the police. (references) | |
Economic History | Libya | The U.S. planes returned fire and shot down the attacking Libyan aircraft. (references) |
Somalia | At the President's order, aircraft from the Somali National Air Force bombed the cities in the northwest province, attacking civilian as well as insurgent targets. (references) | |
Lithuania | Soviet military-security forces continued forced conscription, occasional seizure of buildings, attacking customs posts, and sometimes killing customs and police officials. (references) | |
Human Rights | Indonesia | There also were press reports of mobs attacking security forces and civilian guards. (references) |
Cote d'Ivoire | Police officers accused Norbert of attacking them while they were on duty; 3 days after the beating, Norbert was arrested and detained again. (references) | |
Uruguay | During the year a judge sentenced a female police officer to a prison term for shooting into a group of men who were attacking her in Montevideo. (references) | |
Minorities | Ghana | Of the 11 people arrested for attacking churches during the year's annual ban on drumming, 3 were released for lack of evidence and 8 were set free on bail. (references) |
Kenya | Politicians, both opposition and ruling party, from time to time appeal to majority prejudices by attacking Asian citizens, accusing them of exploiting and usurping the natural inheritance of African citizens. (references) | |
Czech Republic | A number of cases from previous years were ongoing, including the cases of a man charged with defamation of a nation or race and with rioting for attacking two Roma men at a disco while shouting racial slurs; three 17-year-old members of a previously unknown group, Czech Lion (Cesky Lev) charged with a racially motivated attack for a series of attacks on Roma and Romani homes in Rokycany in July 2000; and the leader of a large, well-organized skinhead movement with ties to the United Kingdom, Sweden, Hungary, and Slovenia charged with dissemination of fascist propaganda. (references) | |
Political Economy | South Africa | Along with attacking the crime problem, economic growth and development will be a priority and the climate for U.S.-South Africa bilateral trade and investment should benefit. (references) |
Comoros | Between November 3 and 4, Abeid made an unsuccessful attempt to regain control of Anjouan by attacking forces loyal to the new military commission, but he quickly was defeated. (references) | |
South Africa | National and provincial governments have unveiled a number of programs aimed at attacking crime in general and South Africa is working closely with donor countries to address this problem. (references) | |
Travel | Nepal | There are several incidents of Maoist insurgents attacking establishments of NGOs and INGOs working in different parts of Nepal. (references) |
Women | Papua New Guinea | According to one report, 65 percent of women in prison are there for attacking or killing another woman. (references) |
Morocco | On May 7, in the newspaper Liberation, the Democratic League for Women's Rights criticized some imams for attacking female poet Hakima Chaoui in their sermons, and for harming Islam in general by giving less importance to women. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Al Hunt | Bob, what a bombshell. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, a conservative Republican, Jim Sensenbrenner, attacking those new FBI surveillance guidelines. That changes the whole dynamic of this issue. |
Dennis Miller | The real tactical mistake the terrorists made in trying to disrupt our society was that, in attacking us in such a monstrous public way, they brought us together. |
Rush Limbaugh | Clinton can be held culpable for not doing enough when he was Commander-in-Chief to combat the terrorists who wound up attacking the World Trade Center and Pentagon. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Lyndon B. Johnson | 1963-1969 | We can make progress only by attacking the causes of violence and only where there is civil order founded on justice. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | Let's check our progress in attacking social problems where important gains have been made but which still need critical attention. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Attacking" is generally used as a lexical verb (-ing form) -- approximately 91.83% of the time. "Attacking" is used about 856 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 91.83% | 786 | 8,804 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 7.12% | 61 | 43,149 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.58% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Noun (singular) | 0.47% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 856 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "attacking": attacking a fire ♦ attacking army ♦ attacking troops. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "attacking": counter-attacking. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "attacking"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 攻击 (Assault, Assaulted, Assaulting, attack, attacked). (various references) | |
Danish | anvendelsen af selektiv aetsning af indeslutningerne er en vaerdifuld kilde til oplysninger (the use of selective etching reagents for attacking inclusions provides a valuable source of information), brandbekæmpelse (attacking a fire, fire fighting). (various references) | |
Dutch | immunomolecule (attacking molecule), het etsen van insluitingen met selectieve etsvloeistoffen geeft waardevolle informatie over deze insluitsels (the use of selective etching reagents for attacking inclusions provides a valuable source of information), brandbestrijding (attacking a fire, fire fighting, fire-fighting). (various references) | |
Finnish | hyökkäävä (aggressive). (various references) | |
French | attaquant (attacker). (various references) | |
German | anfallend, kämpferisch (aggressive, militant, pugnacious, pugnaciously), bedrängung (badgering, besetting, harassment, pestering, plaguing, pressurizing), überfallend (holding up, raiding). (various references) | |
Greek | που επιτίθεται. (various references) | |
Hebrew | השתערות (assailing, storming, swoop). (various references) | |
Hungarian | támadó csapatok (advancing force, attacking troops). (various references) | |
Indonesian | pengeroyokan (overwhelming of). (various references) | |
Italian | attaccare un incendio (attacking a fire), molecola del sistema immunitario (attacking molecule), l'attacco delle inclusioni con reagenti selettivi costituisce una valida sorgente d'informazioni (the use of selective etching reagents for attacking inclusions provides a valuable source of information). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 攻撃部隊 (attacking forces), 弱を以て強に当たる (attacking strength by means ofweakness), 侵撃 (invading and attacking), 南征北伐 (attacking in all directions), 搦め手 (back entrance, force attacking the rear of a castle, one who arrests, rear gate, weak point), 搦手 (back entrance, force attacking the rear of a castle, one who arrests, rear gate, weak point), 攻め倦む (to lose the attacking initiative), 攻め抜く (persistent attacking), 寄せ手 (attacking army), 攻撃軍 (attacking force), 闇打ち (attacking under the cover of darkness), 攻撃隊形 (attacking formation), 波状攻撃 (attacking in waves), 抜き打ち (drawing a katana and attacking in the same stroke), 火攻め (attacking with fire), 討幕 (attacking the shogunate), 追い撃ち (attacking the routed enemy, attacking while pursuing, final blow), 追い打ち (attacking the routed enemy, attacking while pursuing, final blow), 追い討ち (attacking the routed enemy, attacking while pursuing, final blow), 攻撃方向 (attacking direction). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | からめて (back entrance, force attacking the rear of a castle, one who arrests, rear gate, weak point), はじょうこうげき (attacking in waves), じゃくをもってきょうにあたる (attacking strength by means ofweakness), よせて (attacking army), やみうち (attacking under the cover of darkness), こうげきほうこう (attacking direction), こうげきぶたい (attacking forces), とうばく (attacking the shogunate, general staff headquarters, overthrow of the shogunate), こうげきたいけい (attacking formation), おいうち (attacking the routed enemy, attacking while pursuing, final blow), せめあぐむ (to lose the attacking initiative), せめぬく (persistent attacking), ぬきうち (drawing a katana and attacking in the same stroke), ひぜめ (attacking with fire, bias, misjudgment, misunderstanding, sight error, squint, torture by fire), しんげき (advance, charge, invading and attacking, new type or school of drama), なんせいほくばつ (attacking in all directions), こうげきぐん (attacking force). (various references) | |
Korean | 공격 (ATK, attack). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | attackingay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | ataque a um incêndio (attacking a fire). (various references) | |
Romanian | atacare (impugnment), ofensiv (offensive). (various references) | |
Scottish | bad (a cluster, bunch, cluster : ann ad bhad, tuft). (various references) | |
Spanish | agresor (aggressor, agressor, assailant, attacker). (various references) | |
Swedish | anfallet. (various references) | |
Turkish | saldırma (encroachment, lunge, onrush, onslaught, on-slaught, rush, swoop). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Acts Chapter 22, Verse 8 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Egw de apekriqhn tiV ei kurie eipen te proV me egw eimi ihsouV o nazwraioV on su diwkeiV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Ego autem respondi quis es Domine dixitque ad me ego sum Iesus Nazarenus quem tu persequeris |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | And Y answeride, Who art thou, Lord? And he seide to me, Y am Jhesu of Nazareth, whom thou pursuest. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And I answered: what arte thou Lorde? And he sayd vnto me: I am Iesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And I, answering, said, Who are you; Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are attacking. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Acts Chapter 22, Verse 8 |
| Albanian | Dhe unë u përgjigja: "Kush je ti, o Zot?" Edhe ai më tha: "Unë jam Jezus Nazareasi, të cilin ti e përndjek". |
| Cebuano | Ug nangutana ako, `Kinsa ka ba, Ginoo?` Ug siya mitubag kanako, `Ako mao si Jesus nga Nazaretnon nga imong ginalutos.` |
| Chinese | 我 回 答 說 、 主 阿 、 你 是 誰 。 他 說 、 我 就 是 你 所 逼 迫 的 拿 撒 勒 人 耶 穌 。 |
| Croatian | Ja odgovorih: 'Tko si, Gospodine?' Reèe mi: 'Ja sam Isus Nazareæanin koga ti progoniš.' |
| Danish | Men jeg svarede: Hvem er du, Herre? Og han sagde til mig: Jeg er Jesus af Nazareth, som du forfølger. |
| Dutch | En ik antwoordde: Wie zijt Gij, Heere? En Hij zeide tot mij: Ik ben Jezus, de Nazarener, Welken gij vervolgt. |
| Finnish | Niin minä vastasin: `Kuka olet, herra?` Ja hän sanoi minulle: `Minä olen Jeesus Nasaretilainen, jota sinä vainoat`. |
| French | Je répondis: Qui es-tu, Seigneur? Et il me dit: Je suis Jésus de Nazareth, que tu persécutes. |
| German | Ich antwortete aber: HERR, wer bist du? Und er sprach zu mir: Ich bin Jesus von Nazareth, den du verfolgst. |
| Haitian Creole | Mwen mande: Ki moun ou ye, Seyè? Epi li di mwen: Mwen se Jezi, moun Nazarèt, w'ap pèsekite a. |
| Hungarian | Én pedig felelék: Kicsoda vagy, Uram? És monda nékem: Én vagyok a názáreti Jézus, a kit te kergetsz. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Lalu saya bertanya, 'Siapakah Engkau, Tuan?' 'Akulah Yesus orang Nazaret itu yang kauaniaya,' jawab-Nya. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka jawabku: Siapakah Engkau, ya Tuhan? Maka kata-Nya kepadaku: Aku ini Yesus orang Nazaret yang engkau aniayakan. |
| Maori | Na ka whakahokia e ahau, Ko wai koe, e te Ariki? Ka mea ia ki ahau, Ko Ihu ahau o Nahareta, e whakatoia nei e koe. |
| Norwegian | Jeg svarte: Hvem er du, Herre? Og han sa til mig: Jeg er Jesus fra Nasaret, han som du forfølger. |
| Portuguese | Eu respondi: Quem és tu, Senhor? Disse-me: Eu sou Jesus, o nazareno, a quem tu persegues. |
| Rumanian | ,Cine ewti, Doamne?` am rqspuns eu. Wi El mi -a zis: ,Eu sknt Isus din Nazaret, pe care -L prigonewti.`` |
| Shuar | Takui wi aniasmajai "¿Amesha Yáitiam, Uunta?" Tutai "Wikia Nasarétnumia Jesusaitjai. Ame pataaturmena Núitjai" turutmiai. |
| Spanish | Entonces yo respondí: "¿Quién eres, Señor?" Y me dijo: "Yo soy Jesús de Nazaret, a quien tú persigues." |
| Swahili | Nami nikauliza: `Nani wewe, Bwana?` Naye akaniambia: `Mimi ni Yesu wa Nazareti ambaye wewe unamtesa.` |
| Swedish | Då svarade jag: 'Vem är du, Herre?' Han sade till mig: 'Jag är Jesus från Nasaret, den som du förföljer.' |
| Uma | "Kupekune' -i: `Ha hema-ko Pue'?' "Na'uli' -ka: `Aku' -mile Yesus to Nazaret, to nubalinai' -e.' |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words ending with "attacking": counterattacking, reattacking. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "attacking" (pronounced uta"king) |
| 5 | -t a" k i ng | stacking, tacking. |
| 4 | -a" k i ng | backing, cracking, hacking, jacking, lacking, packing, racking, sacking, smacking, tracking, unpacking, whacking, wracking. |
| 3 | -k i ng | antismoking, aching, asking, backtracking, baking, balking, banking, barking, basking, biking, bilking, blanking, blinking, blocking, bloodsucking, booking, bookmaking, braking, breaking, breathtaking, broking, Brooking, bucking, carjacking, caulking, chalking, checking, choking, chucking, clanking, clicking, cloaking, clucking, cocking, coking, cooking, corking, cornhusking, cranking, creaking, critiquing, croaking, debunking, decking, disliking, docking, dressmaking, drinking, ducking, duking, earmarking, earthshaking, eking, embarking, evoking, faking, filmmaking, flaking, flanking, flicking, flocking, flunking, forking, forsaking, franking, freaking, frolicking, gawking, glassmaking, groundbreaking, handshaking, hardworking, harking, Hawking, heartbreaking, hijacking, hiking, hitchhiking, Hocking, homemaking, honking, hooking, hulking, interlocking, invoking, jaywalking, jerking, joking, junking, kayaking, kicking, knocking, lawbreaking, lawmaking, leaking, licking, liking, linking, locking, looking, lovemaking, Lucking, lurking, making, marking, masking, matchmaking, meatpacking, metalworking, milking, mimicking, mistaking, mocking, moneymaking, moviemaking, mucking, muckraking, multitasking, networking, nitpicking, nonbanking, nonsmoking, overbooking, overlooking, overtaking, painstaking, panicking, papermaking, parking, peacemaking, peaking, pecking, peeking, perking, picking, piggybacking, planking, plinking, plucking, plunking, poking, politicking, provoking, quaking, quarterbacking, raking, ranking, ransacking, rebuking, reeking, reinking, remaking, remarking, restocking, retaking, rethinking, revoking, reworking, risking, rocking, rollicking, seeking, shaking, sharking, shirking, shocking, shrieking, shrinking, shucking, sinking, sleepwalking, smirking, smoking, snaking, sneaking, soaking, socking, spacewalking, spanking, sparking, speaking, spiking, squawking, squeaking, staking, stalking, steelmaking, sticking, stinking, stockbroking, stocking, stoking, streaking, striking, stroking, sucking, sulking, taking, talking, tanking, tasking, thanking, ticking, trafficking, trekking, tricking, trucking, tucking, tweaking, undertaking, undocking, unlocking, unthinking, viking, waking, walking, winking, wisecracking, woodworking, working, wreaking, wrecking, yanking. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-c-g-i-k-n-t-t" | |
-2 letters: agnatic, catting, katcina, tacking. | |
-3 letters: acting, antick, attack, attain, caking, catkin, intact, taking. | |
-4 letters: acing, actin, again, antic, attic, giant, kiang, tacit, taiga, taint, takin, tanka, tinct, titan. | |
-5 letters: acta, agin, akin, anga, anta, anti, cain, cant, gain, gait, gink, gnat, ikat, kain, kana, kata, kina, king, knit, nick, tack, tact, tain, taka, tang. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-c-g-i-k-n-t-t" | |
+2 letters: reattacking. | |
+5 letters: backscattering. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Sounds 10. Quotations: Familiar 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Quotations: Spoken | 13. Quotations: Speeches 14. Usage Frequency 15. Expressions 16. Expressions: Internet | 17. Translations: Modern 18. Bible Trace 19. Derivations 20. Rhymes | 21. Anagrams 22. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
