assailant

«assailant» in Mova's school dictionary: a person who attacks someone physically — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (an assailant, assailants)

meaning for a pupil

(formal, news and police) An assailant is a person who attacks someone physically. tree →

sense in the lessons

A formal word used in news, police reports and court cases, not in everyday chat. It tells the reader someone was attacked and this is the attacker. Phrases: «the assailant fled», «an unknown assailant», «describe the assailant».

examples

• The assailant ran off before the police arrived. tree →
• The victim could not see the assailant's face. tree →
• Police are searching for the assailant. tree →
• The shopkeeper fought off his assailant. tree →
• The two assailants were later arrested. tree →
• Witnesses described the assailant as tall with a red hat. tree →
• He now gave the animals in charge of his friend Abderus, and made such a furious onslaught on his assailants that they turned and fled. tree →

note

Countable noun; formal. Everyday words: attacker, mugger. Related: assail (attack), assault (an attack). Pronounced a-SAY-lent.

In the corpora

• Make passing great Thy mercies, O Thou that savest by Thy right hand from assailants them that take refuge in Thee.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «assailant» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.