terrorist attack

1. 1.

   a surprise attack involving the deliberate use of violence against civilians in the hope of attaining political or religious aims

   Broadersurprise attackterrorism

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Questions about terrorist attack

What does terrorist attack mean?

terrorist attack means "a surprise attack involving the deliberate use of violence against civilians in the hope of attaining political or religious aims".

Is terrorist attack a common word?

terrorist 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.