Log in or Sign up
  1. coup de main love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A sudden action undertaken to surprise an enemy.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Mil.) a sudden and unexpected movement or attack.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an attack without warning

Etymologies

  1. French : coup, stroke, blow + de, of + main, hand. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “PÈrier had expelled him from France in 1831, he and a few officers from Strasburg attempted, but failed in, a coup de main (1836).”

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 10: Mass Music-Newman

  • “The first attempt to take Epinal in a coup de main had failed.”

    Panzer Aces

  • “By his brilliant coup de main at Yelnya the German commander had precipitated Timoshenko's counterattack and thereby drawn the infantry of Army Group Centre across the Dnieper and into the battle, but at the same time the Panzers had remained in action, and so the very factors which had kept the centre of gravity in his hands for those three extra weeks now made it inevitable that there would be a pause.”

    Barbarossa

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

hypernyms (4)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. onslaught
  1. onset
  1. onrush
  1. attack

hyponyms (6)

Words that are more specific

  1. lying in wait
  1. terrorist attack
  1. ambush
  1. pre-emptive strike
  1. ambuscade
  1. trap

tags (1)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. french

Log in or sign up to add your own tag.

Wordmap

(beta)

Word visualization

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘coup de main’.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

Tweets

Looking for tweets for coup de main.

‘coup de main’ has been looked up 1108 times, loved by 1 person, added to 8 lists, commented on 1 time, and is not a valid Scrabble word.