Making an Attack Is Not the Attack Action
D&D 5e separates two things that tables routinely mash together. The Attack action is one action on your turn (PHB, chapter 9), which martial types split into multiple swings via Extra Attack. “Making an attack” is the underlying procedure: choose a target, roll a d20 plus ability modifier plus proficiency against the target’s AC, then deal damage. That procedure runs whether the attack came from the Attack action or from something else entirely.
Plenty of features trigger an attack without ever invoking the Attack action. An Opportunity Attack is a Reaction that lets you make one melee attack. Two-Weapon Fighting adds an attack as a Bonus Action. Polearm Master grants a Bonus Action attack with the opposite end of the weapon. War Caster lets you cast a spell as an Opportunity Attack instead of swinging. None of these are the Attack action, but all of them are attacks.
This matters because rider effects read the fine print. Sneak Attack triggers on an attack, so a Rogue’s Opportunity Attack can carry it once per turn. Fighting Style bonuses attach to attacks made with a given weapon, not to the Attack action specifically.
At the table: A Rogue takes an Opportunity Attack as an enemy flees, rolls to hit with advantage from an ally flanking, and adds Sneak Attack damage because it is still an attack.
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