attain

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman ataindre, from Old French, from Latin attingō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈteɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn

Verb

attain (third-person singular simple present attains, present participle attaining, simple past and past participle attained)

1. (transitive) To gain (an object or desired result).

   Synonyms: accomplish, achieve, get

   To attain such a high level of proficiency requires hours of practice each day.

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Lord Ross. Your presence makes us rich, most noble lord. / Lord Willoughby. And far surmounts our labour to attain it.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 63, in Vanity Fair , London: Bradbury and Evans , published 1848, →OCLC, page 572:

     […] he will stick at no falsehood, or hesitate at no crime, to attain his ends.

   • 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, chapter I, in The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., , →OCLC, Act I, page 6:

     […] that’s the highest rank a citizen can attain!

   • 1937, George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier‎, New York: Harcourt, Brace, published 1958, Part 1, Chapter 5, p. 82:

     [S]olitude is never easy to attain in a working-class home

   • 1964 July, S. W. Smart, “The Southern needs no centralised Control”, in Modern Railways, page 50:

     But an absolutely right time arrival of all trains on the same day is never attained.

   • 2007, Mohsin Hamid, chapter 11, in The Reluctant Fundamentalist‎, Orlando: Harcourt, page 157:

     Where else could I […] hope to attain such an impressive income?

2. (transitive) To reach or come to, by progression or motion; to arrive at (a place, time, state, etc.).
   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     […] my bones would rest, / That have but labour’d to attain this hour.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, line 1026:

     Canaan he now attains,

   • 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, chapter 4, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: Peter Edes for Thomas and Andrews, , published 1792, →OCLC:

     It has also been asserted, by some naturalists, that men do not attain their full growth and strength till thirty; but that women arrive at maturity by twenty.

   • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter III, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. , volume I, London: for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, →OCLC:

     the southern gales […] blow us speedily towards those shores which I so ardently desire to attain

3. (intransitive) To come or arrive, by motion, growth, bodily exertion, or efforts toward a place, object, state, etc.

   Synonyms: get, reach

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Psalm 139:6:

     Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I can not attain unto it.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Acts 27:12:

     if by any means they might attain to Phenice

   • 1782, William Cowper, letter to Joseph Hill dated 11 November, 1782, in Private Correspondence of William Cowper, London: Henry Colburn, 1824, Volume 1, p. 222,

     You may not, perhaps, live to see your trees attain to the dignity of timber—I, nevertheless, approve of your planting, and the disinterested spirit that prompts you to it.

   • 1810, Walter Scott, “Canto I. The Chase.”, in The Lady of the Lake; , Edinburgh: [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza VII, page 10:

     For, scarce a spear’s length from his haunch, / Vindictive toiled the blood-hounds staunch; / Nor nearer might the dogs attain, / Nor farther might the quarry strain.

   • 1874, John Richard Green, A Short History of the English People‎, London: Macmillan, Chapter 2, Section 6, p. 90:

     Few boroughs had as yet attained to power such as this,

4. (transitive, obsolete) To get at the knowledge of.

   Synonym: ascertain

   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section II”, in James Nichols, editor, The Church History of Britain, , new edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: for Thomas Tegg and Son, , published 1837, →OCLC:

     […] Master Camden, sometimes acknowledgeth, sometimes denieth him for an English Earle. Not that I accuse him as inconstant to himself, but suspect my self not well attaining his meaning therein.

     The spelling has been modernized.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To reach in excellence or degree.

   Synonym: equal

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Innovations”, in The Essayes , 3rd edition, London: Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, page 139:

     Yet notwithstanding as Those that first bring Honour into their Family, are commonly more worthy, then most that succeed: So the first President (if it be good) is seldome attained by Imitation.

6. (transitive, obsolete) To reach a person after being behind them.

   Synonyms: catch up with, overtake

   • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, , London: W Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC, page page-174:

     The Earle finding […] the enemie retired, pursued with all celeritie into Scotland; hoping to haue ouer-taken the Scottish King, and to haue giuen him Battaile; But not attaining him in time, sate downe before the Castle of Aton […] which in a small time hee tooke.

Derived terms

• attainable

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Anitta