Make Your Point: ASSAIL

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pronounce ASSAIL:

uh SALE

connect this word to others:

The word assail comes from the Latin salire, "to leap."

So do lots of other words that have to do with literal or abstract leaping, like insult, assault, salmon, resilience, exult, desultory, and sali___ ("easy to notice: seeming to leap out at you and grab your attention"). Can you recall that last one?

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

"Assail" has Latin bits that literally mean "to leap toward." We've used it in English for many centuries to mean "to attack violently."

In other words, when things, people, or bad thoughts or sensations assail you, they attack you suddenly, as if leaping straight at you.

And in a much weaker sense, when people assail things (or other people), they criticize them, as if sending words to leap on them suddenly.

grammatical bits:

Parts of speech:

Verb, the transitive kind: "Worries assail him as he's trying to fall asleep;" "He's assailed by worries."

Other forms:

The other verb forms are "assailed" and "assailing."

The noun meaning "a sudden attack" is "assailment," and the noun for people who assail others is "assailants."

There are some adjectives, too: you could describe things or people as "assailed" or "unassailed," or "assailing" or "unassailing," or "assailable" or "unassailable."

how to use it:

Pick the formal, common word "assail" when you want to emphasize the suddenness and violence of an attack.

You might be literal and talk about, say, pirates assailing cargo ships.

But assailing is most often verbal. We talk about people assailing each other, or assailing each other's actions. "The media assailed Trump." "The media assailed Trump for his crimes." "The media assailed Trump over his felony convictions."

And, very often, assailing is figurative. We talk about headaches, nightmares, anxious thoughts, terrible news, nasty smells, and ugly sounds that assail us.

examples:

"Charles had moved into a shed where his nostrils would not be assailed by the immaculate but painful smells of lye and soda and ammonia and yellow soap."
— John Steinbeck, East of Eden, 1952

"Lawmakers, civil rights groups and Facebook’s own employees have assailed [Facebook] for letting hate speech and misinformation fester on its site."
— Mike Isaac and Nick Corasaniti, New York Times, 4 September 2020

has this page helped you understand "assail"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "assail" without saying "have a go at" or "lay into."

try it out:

A lot of writers these days use "assail" as a synonym of "criticize" or "call out," as in "Customers and lawmakers assail TicketMaster for its excessive fees." Although this usage is common and accepted, I don't recommend it.

"Assail" implies a leaping attack. So, I recommend using it only when you really are describing a sudden or aggressive attack, literally or figuratively.

Try this: "(Some kind of sound, sight, or smell that I really dislike) assailed me."

Example 1: "The heavy smell of perfume assails me as I enter Hollister."

Example 2: "As he walked from room to room in the house, jazz assailed him from phonograph after phonograph, and he sometimes threw up his hands in disgust."
— Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen, 1948

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "Spot the Sharper Image."

Which of the two items described below is a real one that you can order from the Sharper Image catalog, and which one did I invent? Scroll to the bottom to see which one is real!

Try this set today:

Item A: Golf Ball Finding Glasses. "Are you constantly losing golf balls in tall grass and under shady trees?"

Item B: Worm Deterring Gardening Gloves. "Emits a harmless frequency that encourages worms to burrow further underground. Ideal for the squeamish gardener."

review this word:

1. Opposites of ASSAIL include

A. HIDE and SETTLE.
B. PROTECT and CONDONE.
C. ANCHOR and RUN AGROUND.

2. Although the verb "assail" implies _____, many writers these days use it more weakly as a synonym of "_____," as in "_____."

A. profound pain .. bother .. I'm assailed by ads whenever I load Facebook
B. a sudden attack .. criticize .. The media assailed Facebook for spreading dangerous lies
C. the free flow of information .. tell .. Whistleblowers have assailed the public about Facebook's predatory practices

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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