Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounSomeone who attacks.
nounOne of the players on a team in football (soccer) in the row nearest to the opposing team's goal, who are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals.
Sentence Examples
He wrestled his attacker to the ground.
She managed to scare off her attacker by screaming loudly.
The police quickly identified the ____ from the security camera footage.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The victim was able to identify her ____ from a series of photos.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd
Proto-Italic *ad
Proto-Italic *ad-
Latin ad-
Italian a-
Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁
Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is-
Proto-Italic *dis-
Latin dis-
Old French des-
Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg-
Proto-Germanic *stikaną
Proto-West Germanic *stekander.
Old French atachier
Old French destachier
Middle French destacherbor.
Italian distaccare
Italian staccare
Italian attaccarebor.
French attaquerdeverb.
French attaquebor.
English attack
Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.
Proto-Italic *-āzijos
Latin -āriusnom.
Latin -āriusbor.
Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz
Proto-West Germanic *-ārī
Old English -ere
Middle English -ere
English -er
English attacker
From attack + -er.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…] expecting the woman to take her attacker into physical custody is tantamount to preventing the arrest. If she could handle him, she probably would not need to call the police in the first place."
— 1981, Del Martin, Battered Wives, page 90:
"In this manner, the victim may be able to discover the one or many zombied systems that are causing the DoS attack but probably won't be able to track down the actual attacker."
— 2011, James M. Stewart, CompTIA Security+ Review Guide: Exam SY0-301, page 133:
"The targets suggest the attackers are sympathetic to the vast censorship apparatus known as the Great Firewall of China."
— 2015 March 31, Dan Goodin, “Massive denial-of-service attack on GitHub tied to Chinese government”, in Ars Technica, retrieved 01 Apr 2015: