onslaught

English

Alternative forms

• anslaight

Etymology

From on- +‎ slaught. Formed after Middle Dutch aenslag, aenslach, equivalent to aen +‎ slag, although slaught corresponds to Middle Dutch slacht; slag is cognate with the English weaving term sley. Compare Dutch aanslag and German Anschlag.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒn.slɔːt/
• (Standard Southern British, Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈɔnsloːt/
• (US)
  • (Northern US, without the cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɑn.slɔt/
  • (Midland US, Southern US, without the cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɔn.slɔt/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɑn.slɑt/

    • Audio (US, cot–caught merger):

      (file)

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈɔnslɔt/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈɒnsloːt/, [ˈɔ̟nsloːt] ~ [ˈɞ̠nsloːt]
• Hyphenation: on‧slaught

Noun

onslaught (plural onslaughts)

1. A fierce attack.

   Synonym: onrush

2. (by extension) A large number of people or things resembling an attack.

   They opened the doors and prepared for the onslaught of holiday shoppers.

   • 2010 December 28, Kevin Darling, “West Brom 1 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     The inevitable Baggies onslaught followed as substitute Simon Cox saw his strike excellently parried by keeper Bunn, with Cox heading the rebound down into the ground and agonisingly over the bar.

Derived terms

• onslaughter

Translations

fierce attack

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: на́ціск m (nácisk)
• Bulgarian: я́ростна ата́ка f (járostna atáka)
• Catalan: envestida (ca) f, atac (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 猛攻 (maang⁶ gung¹)

  Mandarin: 猛攻 (zh) (měnggōng)

• Crimean Tatar: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: úder (cs) m, útok (cs) m
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: hyökkäys (fi), päällekarkaus (fi), rynnäkkö (fi)
• French: assaut (fr) m, offensive (fr) f
• Galician: guinada f, bimbión m, asalto m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Angriff (de) m, Ansturm (de) m, Strum m
• Greek: ορμή (el) f (ormí)

  Ancient Greek: ὁρμή f (hormḗ)

• Hungarian: támadás (hu)
• Italian: assalto (it) m
• Latin: ēruptiō f
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Māori: tukituki, ngaunga
• Polish: atak (pl) m
• Portuguese: assalto (pt) m, investida (pt) f
• Romanian: asalt (ro) n, ofensivă (ro) f, atac (ro) n
• Russian: на́тиск (ru) m (nátisk)
• Slovak: útok m
• Spanish: embestida (es) f, ataque (es) m, arremetida (es) f, acometida (es) f
• Swedish: angrepp (sv), våldsamt anfall
• Turkish: taarruz (tr), saldırı (tr)
• Ukrainian: на́тиск m (nátysk)

large quantity of people or things resembling an attack

• Czech: nájezd (cs) m, invaze (cs) f, nápor m, příval m
• Finnish: ryntäys (fi)
• French: assaut (fr) m, invasion (fr) f
• Galician: riola (gl) f, presa (gl) f, aluvión m
• Hungarian: roham (hu), ostrom (hu)
• Italian: invasione (it) f
• Kazakh: қаптау (qaptaw), қаптап кету (qaptap ketüw), торлау (torlaw), басу (basuw)
• Portuguese: invasão (pt) f
• Romanian: asalt (ro) n
• Russian: наплы́в (ru) m (naplýv), на́тиск (ru) m (nátisk)
• Spanish: avalancha (es) f
• Swedish: anstormning (sv)

See also

• slew

References

• “onslaught”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.