(v. t.) To attack with violence, or in a vehement and hostile manner; to assault; to molest; as, to assail a man with blows; to assail a city with artillery.
(v. t.) To encounter or meet purposely with the view of mastering, as an obstacle, difficulty, or the like.
(v. t.) 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.
Example Sentences:
(1) In confidence rape, the assailant is known to some degree, however slight, and gains control over his victim by winning her trust.
(2) Preliminary murder charges have been lodged against two men – both students at Islamic religious schools, who were arrested at the scene after being overpowered by bystanders – and against a third assailant who fled and has yet to be found, an officer said.
(3) The assailant was from another part of Afghanistan and had been working in Khost province for about a year, he said.
(4) "While the state security forces in some instances intervened to prevent violence and protect fleeing Muslims, more frequently they stood aside during attacks or directly supported the assailants, committing killings and other abuses," said an HRW report released on Monday.
(5) Supportive mothers (n = 71) believed that the child was telling the truth and that the assailant was primarily responsible.
(6) In the second, the two assailants pleaded guilty this week at Brighton crown court; one was given a two-year conditional discharge and another awaits sentencing.
(7) Didier Enrique “Electric” Ramirez was apprehended for his alleged role in the killing of Nelson García , 39, who was shot dead earlier this month by at least two assailants following a dispute with local landowners, authorities said in a statement.
(8) Parameters shared by two or more criminal acts allegedly committed by the same assailant were compared with the same parameters recorded from 50 or 100 other mutually independent criminal acts committed by other known assailants.
(9) "Just this week I'm assailed mightily for going after Islam and had been for a very long time before that."
(10) Up to three assailants were still inside the British Council building fighting against Afghan security forces and Nato troops, Kabul police spokesman Hashmatullah Stanikzai said.
(11) Such swagger would look naïve and unreflexive now, in a country assailed by anxiety about its own impotence in the world.
(12) Assailants were usually adolescent and young adult men of the same race; however, 43% of children less than 5 years of age were killed by women.
(13) The mean age at time of assault was 21.7 years and the mean number of assailants was 2.8.
(14) Unknown assailants attacked Mustafa Barghouti, the leader of the Palestinian National Initiative.
(15) The assailant was a women in 61 pc of cases, a man in 35 pc of cases and a child in the remainder.
(16) It is concluded that social heredity, heavy consumption of alcohol and emotional dependence on the male assailant are major reasons for the woman's inability to break away from a relationship characterized by repeated battering.
(17) The assailant later admitted the assault after being shown the video footage and was jailed for five months in February.
(18) The attack marks the latest flaring of political violence in the deeply polarised kingdom, where months of anti-government rallies have been marred by sporadic gun and grenade attacks by unknown assailants.
(19) The threat of transmission of HIV was used by the assailant in 16 cases and sexually transmitted diseases, presumed consequent upon the attack, were found in 5 (18%).
(20) Before the criminal law was enacted, California allowed victims to sue their virtual assailants, but that is an expensive and time-consuming option.