ONSLAUGHT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does onslaught mean? 

• ONSLAUGHT (noun)
  The noun ONSLAUGHT has 3 senses:

1. a sudden and severe onset of trouble

2. (military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons)

3. the rapid and continuous delivery of linguistic communication (spoken or written)

  Familiarity information: ONSLAUGHT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ONSLAUGHT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sudden and severe onset of trouble

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("onslaught" is a kind of...):

trouble (an event causing distress or pain)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

attack; onrush; onset; onslaught

Context example:

the attack began at dawn

Hypernyms ("onslaught" is a kind of...):

military operation; operation (activity by a military or naval force (as a maneuver or campaign))

Meronyms (parts of "onslaught"):

assault (close fighting during the culmination of a military attack)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "onslaught"):

ground attack (an attack by ground troops)

charge (an impetuous rush toward someone or something)

banzai attack; banzai charge (a mass attack of troops without concern for casualties; originated by Japanese who accompanied it with yells of 'banzai')

diversion; diversionary attack (an attack calculated to draw enemy defense away from the point of the principal attack)

incursion; penetration (an attack that penetrates into enemy territory)

blitz; blitzkrieg (a swift and violent military offensive with intensive aerial bombardment)

strike (an attack that is intended to seize or inflict damage on or destroy an objective)

counterattack; countermove (an attack by a defending force against an attacking enemy force in order to regain lost ground or cut off enemy advance units etc.)

bombardment; bombing (an attack by dropping bombs)

fire; firing (the act of firing weapons or artillery at an enemy)

strafe (an attack of machine-gun fire or cannon fire from a low flying airplane)

coup de main; surprise attack (an attack without warning)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The rapid and continuous delivery of linguistic communication (spoken or written)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

barrage; bombardment; onslaught; outpouring

Context example:

a bombardment of mail complaining about his mistake

Hypernyms ("onslaught" is a kind of...):

language; linguistic communication (a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols)

 Context examples 

Gravely and sedately they stood beneath the morning sun waiting for the onslaught of their foemen.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Crab Wilson, as game as a pebble, met him with a flush hit every time, but no human strength or human science seemed capable of stopping the terrible onslaught of this iron man.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He may be stern; he may be exacting; he may be ambitious yet; but his is the sternness of the warrior Greatheart, who guards his pilgrim convoy from the onslaught of Apollyon.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The three fellows still abroad upon the island did not greatly trouble us; a single sentry on the shoulder of the hill was sufficient to ensure us against any sudden onslaught, and we thought, besides, they had had more than enough of fighting.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The dust survived the later onslaught of shock waves from the supernova explosion, and is now flowing into the interstellar medium where it can become part of the 'seed material' for new stars and planets.

(Missing Link Between Supernovae and Planet Formation, NASA)

She sank her fangs into her mate's shoulder in reproof; and he, frightened, unaware of what constituted this new onslaught, struck back ferociously and in still greater fright, ripping down the side of the she-wolf's muzzle.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It seems to me that they muster for an onslaught.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Back and forward reeled the leopard banner, now borne up the slope by the rush and weight of the onslaught, now pushing downwards again as Sir Nigel, Burley, and Black Simon with their veteran men-at arms, flung themselves madly into the fray.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)