Accost vs Attack - What's the difference?
accost | attack |
To approach and speak to boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request.
*{{quote-news, date = 21 August 2012
, first = Ed
, last = Pilkington
, title = Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?
, newspaper = The Guardian
, url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/21/death-penalty-trial-reggie-clemons?newsfeed=true
, page =
, passage = The Missouri prosecutors' case against Clemons, based partly on incriminating testimony given by his co-defendants, was that Clemons was part of a group of four youths who accosted the sisters on the Chain of Rocks Bridge one dark night in April 1991.
}}
(obsolete) To join side to side; to border; hence, to sail along the coast or side of.
* So much [of Lapland] as accosts the sea. - Fuller
(obsolete) To approach; to come up to.
To speak to first; to address; to greet.
* Milton
* 1847 , , (Jane Eyre), Chapter XVIII
(obsolete) To adjoin; to lie alongside.
* Spenser
* Fuller
To solicit sexually.
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.
* {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
, title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad
, chapter=4 * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=
, volume=189, issue=6, page=1, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= A time in which one attacks. The offence of a battle.
(cricket) Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side.
(volleyball) Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net.
(lacrosse) The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team.
The sudden onset of a disease.
An active episode of a chronic or recurrent disease.
(music) The onset of a musical note, particularly with respect to the strength (and duration) of that onset.
(audio) 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).
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 ).
* {{quote-news, year=2012
, date=June 3
, author=Nathan Rabin
, title=TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992)
To begin to affect; to act upon injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste.
* Macaulay
* B. Stewart
To deal with something in a direct way; to set to work upon.
(cricket) To aim balls at the batsman’s wicket.
(cricket) To set a field, or bowl in a manner designed to get wickets.
(cricket) To bat aggressively, so as to score runs quickly.
(soccer) To move forward in an attempt to actively score point, as opposed to trying not to concede.
* {{quote-news, year=2011
, date=October 15
, author=Michael Da Silva
, title=Wigan 1 - 3 Bolton
, work=BBC Sport
In lang=en terms the difference between accost and attack
is that accost is to speak to first; to address; to greet while attack is to deal with something in a direct way; to set to work upon.As verbs the difference between accost and attack
is that accost is to approach and speak to boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request while attack is to apply violent force to someone or something.As nouns the difference between accost and attack
is that accost is (rare) address; greeting while attack is 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.accost
English
Verb
(en verb)- (Shakespeare)
- Him, Satan thus accosts .
- She approached the basin, and bent over it as if to fill her pitcher; she again lifted it to her head. The personage on the well-brink now seemed to accost her; to make some request—"She hasted, let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him to drink."
- the shores which to the sea accost
- so much [of Lapland] as accosts the sea
Derived terms
* accostmentAnagrams
*attack
English
Noun
(en noun)citation, passage=“I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn’t I??? Why didn’t I telephone??? Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surprise attack , and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. …”}}
Mark Tran
Denied an education by war, passage=One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks' on schools
Synonyms
* (volleyball) hit, spike * See alsoAntonyms
* (music) decay, releaseDerived terms
* attack is the best form of defence * pincer attackVerb
(en verb)- This species of snake will only attack humans if it feels threatened.
- She published an article attacking the recent pay cuts.
citation, page= , passage=In its God-like prime, The Simpsons attacked well-worn satirical fodder from unexpected angles, finding fresh laughs in the hoariest of subjects.}}
- On the fourth of March he was attacked by fever.
- Hydrofluoric acid attacks the glass.
- We´ll have dinner before we attack the biology homework.
- I attacked the meal with a hearty appetite.
citation, page= , passage=Six successive defeats had left them rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table but, clearly under instructions to attack from the outset, Bolton started far the brighter.}}