Meaning

• An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of opponent or enemy.

• An attempt to detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault.

  "They claimed the censorship of the article was an attack on free speech."

• A time in which one attacks; the offence of a battle.

  "The army timed their attack to coincide with the local celebrations."

• (by extension) The beginning of active operations on anything.

  "Having washed the plates from dinner, I made an attack on the laundry."

• An attempt to exploit a vulnerability in a computer system.

• Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side.

• Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net.

• The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team.

• The sudden onset of a disease or condition.

  "I've had an attack of the flu."

• An active episode of a chronic or recurrent disease.

• 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).

Meaning

• To apply violent force to someone or something.

  "This species of snake will only attack humans if it feels threatened."

• To aggressively challenge a person, idea, etc., with words (particularly in newspaper headlines, because it typesets into less space than "criticize" or similar).

  "She published an article attacking the recent pay cuts."

• To begin to affect; to act upon injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste.

• To deal with something in a direct way; to set to work upon.

  "I attacked the meal with a hearty appetite."

• To aim balls at the batsman’s wicket.

• To set a field, or bowl in a manner designed to get wickets.

• To bat aggressively, so as to score runs quickly.

• To move forward in an active attempt to score a point, as opposed to trying not to concede.

• To accelerate quickly in an attempt to get ahead of the other riders.