assail

Definitions

1. 1.To encounter or meet purposely with the view of mastering, as an obstacle, difficulty, or the like. The thorny wilds the woodmen fierce assail. Pope.
2. 2.To attack morally, or with a view to produce changes in the feelings, character, conduct, existing usages, institutions; to attack by words, hostile influence, etc.; as, to assail one with appeals, arguments, abuse, ridicule, and the like. The papal authority . . . assailed. Hallam. They assailed him with keen invective; they assailed him with still keener irony. Macaulay. See Attack.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "assail" mean?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is assail.

• What is to encounter or meet purposely with the view of mastering, as an obstacle, difficulty, or the like. The thorny wilds the woodmen fierce assail. Pope called?