assailant

noun

as·​sail·​ant ə-ˈsā-lənt 

plural assailants

: a person who attacks someone violently

an assault by an unknown assailant

She could identify the assailant and his two accomplices, and she wanted to press charges.

—Jennifer Baumgardner

Detectives speculated that she may have been punched on the chin, perhaps knocked unconscious by her assailant.

—Joseph Wambaugh

Synonyms of assailant

• attacker
• assaulter

Examples of assailant in a Sentence

the darkness prevented me from getting a good look at my assailant

Recent Examples on the Web

Morales grabbed a patio chair to fend off his attackers before running away with his assailants in tow, prosecutors said. —City News Service, Oc Register, 25 Jan. 2026

When the woman exits, her assailant throws her to the ground, rips off her clothes and overpowers her. —Peter Debruge, Variety, 24 Jan. 2026

And in Pico Union, pedestrians were robbed at gunpoint by assailants emboldened by the cover of night. —Gavin J. Quinton, Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2026

The assailant was of Portuguese origin—but almost half of the recipients of the 55,000 green cards awarded annually by the program are from Africa. —Idrees Kahloon, The Atlantic, 18 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1523, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for assailant

• covalent
• divalent
• inhalant
• hexavalent
• monovalent
• multivalent
• pentavalent
• polyvalent
• tetravalent
• univalent

Legal Definition

assailant

noun

as·​sail·​ant ə-ˈsā-lənt 

: a person who commits criminal assault