广义的人身攻击（personal attack; name-calling）指在沟通对话时，攻击、批评对方个人因素相关之断言或质疑；如人格、动机、态度、地位、阶级或处境等。若进一步以此作为论证之基础，而作出与前提不相关的结论，则是诉诸人身的谬误。

狭义的人身攻击必须具备主体、客体、攻击行为、实质损害发生，这四者缺一不可。如果没有攻击的人对受攻击的人做出攻击行为，这个行为必须有实质损害的发生，无法证明完成此行为并产生实质损害，是无法讨论人身攻击的。狭义的人身攻击经常以谩骂的形式表现。

哲学家李天命认为，只要没有将品格批判当做驳论的理据，批判他人就没有犯诉诸人身的谬误。否则父母责骂子女，法庭判辞批评罪犯的操行，便全都犯上诉诸人身的谬误了。

Name calling is abusive or insulting language referring to a person or group, a verbal abuse. This phenomenon is studied by a variety of academic disciplines from anthropology, to child psychology, to politics. It is also studied by rhetoricians, and a variety of other disciplines that study propaganda techniques and their causes and effects. The technique is most frequently employed within political discourse and school systems, in an attempt to negatively impact their opponent.