surprise attack

1. 1.

   an attack without warning

   Synonymscoup de main

   Broaderattack

   Narrowerterrorist attackambushpre-emptive strike

Questions about surprise attack

What does surprise attack mean?

surprise attack means "an attack without warning".

What is another word for surprise attack?

Close synonyms include coup de main. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is surprise attack a common word?

surprise attack is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.