Antonyms:
| alienation, | aversion, | distance, | estrangement, | repugnance, |
| animosity, | coolness, | divorce, | indifference, | separation, |
| antipathy, | dislike, | enmity, | opposition, | severance. |
Prepositions:
Attachment of a true man to his friends; attachment to a leader for his nobility of character; the attachments between two persons or things; attachment by muscular fibers, or by a rope, etc.
ATTACK, v.
Synonyms:
| assail, | beset, | combat, | invade, |
| assault, | besiege, | encounter, | set upon, |
| beleaguer, | charge, | fall upon, | storm. |
To attack is to begin hostilities of any kind. A general invades a country by marching in troops; he attacks a city by drawing up an army against it; he assaults it by hurling his troops directly upon its defenses. Assail and assault, tho of the same original etymology, have diverged in meaning, so that assault alone retains the meaning of direct personal violence. One may assail another with reproaches; he assaults him with a blow, a brandished weapon, etc. Armies or squadrons charge; combat and encounter may be said of individual contests. To beset is to set around, or, so to speak, to stud one's path, with menaces, attacks, or persuasions. To besiege and beleaguer are[64] the acts of armies. To encounter is to meet face to face, and may be said either of the attacking or of the resisting force or person, or of both.