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tr.v. as·sailed, as·sail·ing, as·sails
1. To attack violently, as with blows or military force; assault.
2. To attack verbally, as with ridicule or censure. See Synonyms at attack.
3. To trouble or beset, as with questions or doubts.

[Middle English assailen, from Old French asalir, asaill-, from Vulgar Latin *assalīre, variant of Latin assilīre, to jump on : ad-, onto; see ad- + salīre, to jump; see sel- in Indo-European roots.]

as·sail′a·ble adj.
as·sail′a·bil′i·ty n.
as·sail′er n.
as·sail′ment n.
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References in periodicals archive ?
This assailment on them is no lesser widespread on other forums.
In the midst of Reagan's dress rehearsal for the current right-wing rollback of civil rights, evisceration of the public sector, attack on women, assault on unions, and war on Afro-America, Chrisman perceptively noted the significance of his assailment of the nonprofit sector.
Connor, Davidson and Lee (2003) list the following as examples of prevalent violent trauma: emotional and/or physical abuse by one's partner or family member; sexual assault of a child; purposeful, violent, nonsexual assailment by another person; rape; incest; loss of a family member to a violent act; critical harm or injury of a nonsexual nature to one's child by another person; and loss of personal assets and/or employment as a result of carelessness or brutality.
Particularly convincing is Interior: Striped Foyer, a madcap picture of a vestibule with a side table and shifting wall planes covered in wallpaper so finely striped as to produce an assailment comparable to the queasy afterimages of Op art.