terrorist attack
Violent extremist act
A terrorist attack is an act of violence intended to create fear and advance a political, ideological, or religious agenda.
The term typically implies targeting civilians or public spaces to maximize psychological impact beyond the immediate victims: The city installed barriers after the terrorist attack.
What qualifies as terrorism often depends on perspective—governments and insurgents rarely agree on the label.
- bombingAttack with explosives
- car bombExplosive in automobile
- explosionViolent burst of energy
- violenceHarmful physical force
- mass shootingMulti-victim gun attack
extremist · jihad · carnage · casualties · hostage · suicide bomber · suicide vest · gunman · rampage · massacre · atrocity · devastation · sirens · rubble · ground zero · aftermath · hijacking · radicalized
- attacksassault, raid, strike, offensive, charge
- military attacksair strike, bombing raid, commando raid, guerrilla raid, night raid
- killingshomicide, murder for hire, manslaughter, killing, assassination
- catastrophesdisasters, disaster, natural disasters, catastrophe, apocalypse
- crisescrisis, emergency, disaster, natural disaster, catastrophe
- combatbattle, fight, combat, unarmed combat, grappling
terrorist attackconventional warfare
Armed conflict using standard military forces
declared war · military operation · rules of engagement · surgical strike · defensive action
terrorist attackrescue operation
Coordinated effort to save endangered
peacekeeping mission · humanitarian aid · relief effort · liberation · disaster relief
terrorist attackpeace treaty
Formal end to hostilities
peace accord · reconciliation · national celebration · armistice · ceasefire
terrorist, attack, terror, terrorism, terrorize, terrorized, terrorizing, terrorizes, terrorists