Attack
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To apply violent force to someone or something. To aggressively challenge a person, idea, etc., with words (particularly in newspaper headlines, because it typesets into less space than "criticize" or similar). To aim balls at the batsman's wicket. To set a field, or bowl in a manner designed to get wickets. To bat aggressively, so as to score runs quickly.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: An attempt to cause damage or injury to, or to somehow detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault. A time in which one attacks. The offence of a battle. Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side. Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net. The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team. The sudden onset of a disease. The amount of time it takes for the volume of an audio signal to go from zero to maximum level (e.g. an audio waveform representing a snare drum hit would feature a very fast attack, whereas that of a wave washing to shore would feature a slow attack).
Example sentence: After 50 years of smoking unfiltered cigarettes, my father died, too young, of a massive heart attack. He was 69. It's almost certain that all those years of nicotine inhalation were a major contributor to his clogged arteries.
Assail
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To attack violently.