What is the difference between assault and battery?

Question

From what I can find on the Internet, it looks like assault and battery are pretty much the same thing. In the United States, is there a significant difference between assault and battery?

Answer 1

Assault can be verbal, such as threatening to do harm to someone. Also pointing a weapon at a person is assault, as in "Assault with a deadly weapon". Battery is physically striking or hitting someone.

Answer 2

Joe M nailed the nail on the head.  His answer is right out of law text.

Answer 3

Assault does not necessarily require contact, simply putting someone in fear for their safety could be enough.

Battery is the actual infliction of pain or injury.

Answer 4

Assault is the willful and unlawful attempt, coupled with the present ability, to do harm upon the person of another.

Battery is the willful and unlawful use of force upon the person of another.

Basically, an assault means you made an attempt to hit, strike or otherwise cause harm. A battery has been committed when that assault is successful. Now, the definitions above are from the statues as they are written in Nevada, where I am from. Each state has different terminology and different categories of each. Refer to the statutes in your state for specifics.  

Answer 5

Assault is a threat of physical harm.

Battery is actual physical harm and there is always assault if there is battery.

Example: someone raises a fist and says "I'm gonna knock your teeth out." That would be assault, but not battery since they never actually hit you.

But if someone walks up and punches you in the face, its battery. It is considered assault the moment they make a fist and raise it, so by definition, there is always assault when there is battery.

Assault with a deadly weapon is a more extreme charge. It would be a case where there was a threat involving anything that could be potentially deadly. For example if someone threatened you with a knife or a gun, it would be assault with a deadly weapon.

If someone commits assault with a deadly weapon and follows through with the threat (like they actually fire a shot, or swing at you with a knife) then its considered attempted murder since they were trying to hurt you with potentially deadly force.  

Answer 6

Assault is actually being hit. Battery is when you are threatened and feel fear of being hit.