attain
Meanings
- To come to or reach (a place) by motion or progression.
- To arrive at (a certain age or time, condition or state, etc.); to reach.
- To gain (a desired result or other objective) through effort; to accomplish, to achieve.
- To gain possession of (something tangible or intangible) through effort; to acquire, to obtain.
- To reach (someone) after being behind them.
- To find out (information, knowledge, etc.); to ascertain, to get at.
- Often followed by to.
- To come to or reach a place by motion or progression; to reach.
- To arrive at a certain condition or state, etc.
- To gain possession of something tangible or intangible through effort.
- To come to or reach a position without moving from one place to another.
- To extend or reach from one position to another; to stretch.
- Synonym of attainment.
- An act of arriving at or reaching; an act of obtaining by effort.
- That which is obtained by effort.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English atteinen, atteynen (“to achieve, attain; to be adequate or sufficient; to affect; to come or get to (a place), reach; to corrupt, taint; to overcome, overpower; to overtake; to succeed; to tamper with; (law) to bring to justice, punish”), from ataign-, a stem of Anglo-Norman ataindre, and Old French ataindre, attaindre (“to reach”) (modern French atteindre), from Vulgar Latin *attangere, from Latin attingere, the present active infinitive of attingō (“to come into contact with, touch; to affect; to arrive at, reach; etc.”), from ad- (prefix indicating a nearing or reaching) (appearing as at- due to assimilation with the following t, inducing gemination) + tangō (“to grasp, touch; to arrive at, reach; to attain; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to grasp; to touch”)). Doublet of attainder and attinge. The noun is derived from the verb.