abuse vs attack

abuse

verb
  • To injure; to maltreat; to hurt; to treat with cruelty, especially repeatedly. 

  • To imbibe a drug for a purpose other than it was intended; to intentionally take more of a drug than was prescribed for recreational reasons; to take illegal drugs habitually. 

  • To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to use improperly; to misuse; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert 

  • To attack with coarse language; to insult; to revile; malign; to speak in an offensive manner to or about someone; to disparage. 

noun
  • Improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom. 

  • Physical maltreatment; injury; cruel treatment. 

  • Misuse; improper use; perversion. 

  • Coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; language that unjustly or angrily vilifies. 

  • Violation; defilement; rape; forcing of undesired sexual activity by one person on another, often on a repeated basis. 

attack

verb
  • To apply violent force to someone or something. 

  • To begin to affect; to act upon injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste. 

  • To bat aggressively, so as to score runs quickly. 

  • To aim balls at the batsman’s wicket. 

  • To aggressively challenge a person, idea, etc., with words (particularly in newspaper headlines, because it typesets into less space than "criticize" or similar). 

  • (Of a chemical species) To approach a chemical species or bond in order to form a bond with it. 

  • To set a field, or bowl in a manner designed to get wickets. 

  • To accelerate quickly in an attempt to get ahead of the other riders. 

  • To move forward in an active attempt to score a point, as opposed to trying not to concede. 

  • To deal with something in a direct way; to set to work upon. 

noun
  • Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net. 

  • The amount of time it takes for the volume of an audio signal to go from zero to maximum level (e.g. an audio waveform representing a snare drum hit would feature a very fast attack, whereas that of a wave washing to shore would feature a slow attack). 

  • An attempt to detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault. 

  • The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team. 

  • A time in which one attacks; the offence of a battle. 

  • The beginning of active operations on anything. 

  • The sudden onset of a disease or condition. 

  • An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of opponent or enemy. 

  • Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side. 

  • An attempt to exploit a vulnerability in a computer system. 

  • The onset of a musical note, particularly with respect to the strength (and duration) of that onset. 

  • An active episode of a chronic or recurrent disease. 

How often have the words abuse and attack occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )