banzai attack

noun

: a mass attack by Japanese soldiers in World War II

also : an all-out usually desperate attack

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The fighting was fierce and ended with a massed banzai attack — the first such all-out charge that Americans would face in the bloody island-hopping campaign. —Jesse Leavenworth, courant.com, 11 Nov. 2020

As the tide rose and the Marines finally began to push in, the remaining Japanese troops launched an all-out banzai attack. —Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 28 June 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1944, in the meaning defined above