assail
/əˈseɪl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.11 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Muggers assailed them as they entered an alley."
- "Our ears were assailed by her joyous efforts on her new saxophone."
- "With greedy force he gan the fort assayle, / Whereof he weend possesse soone to bee, / And win rich spoile of ransackt chastitee."
- "[L]et us once again assail your ears, / That are so fortified against our story, / What we two nights have seen."
- ""Unhappy woman!" he observed to himself as he walked down the platform of Templecombe station; "for the next six months or so those children will assail her in public with demands for an improper story!""
- "2007, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Wizard of the Crow, Nairobo: East African Educational Publishers, Book 2, Chapter 3, p. 64, He did not like being in crowds, foul smells galore assailing his nostrils."
Etymology
From Middle English assailen, from Old French assaillir, assalir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“at, towards”) + salīre (“jump”). See also assault.