assail
Launch verbal barrage
To assail is to attack vigorously or violently, whether physically or verbally.
Armies assail fortifications; critics assail policies; doubts assail the mind.
The word carries more force than simply criticize or question—it suggests a sustained, aggressive onslaught: She was assailed by reporters the moment she left the courthouse.
Publicly declare wrongdoing
- condemnDeclare wrong or guilty
- censureFormal institutional disapproval
- lambasteScold with ferocity
- castigateReprimand severely
berate · rebuke · reproach · upbraid · vilify · excoriate · attack · slam
Sustained, overwhelming attack
- pepperPungent dried berry spice
- peltFur-bearing animal skin
- showerWater spray for bathing
- pummelStrike repeatedly with fists
batter · buffet · hail · volley · salvo · fusillade · bombardment · strafe
denounce
Publicly declare wrongdoing
castigate · berate · rebuke · reproach · upbraid · vilify · excoriate · attack · slam · blast
barrage
Sustained, overwhelming attack
pummel · batter · buffet · hail · volley · salvo · fusillade · bombardment · strafe · shell
ambush
Surprise strike from concealment
combat · offensive · incursion · onslaught · blitz · engage · fight · skirmish · warfare · invade
beset
Troubled on all sides
- besiegeSurround to force surrender
- inundateOverwhelm with excess
- swampWaterlogged land with vegetation
engulf · overpower · overcome · flood · torment · plague · harass · haunt · trouble · beleaguer
- sexual assaultForced sexual contact crime
- assault riflesSelective-fire infantry firearms
- physical assaultHarmful bodily contact
- assault chargesCriminal accusations for attacking
- assault weaponMilitary-derived firearm for civilians
- unexpected assaultSudden unprovoked violence
assault, unassailable, assailable, assailed, assailing, assails, assailer, unassailed