Link Centre Dictionary

attain

at·tain

US/əˈteɪn/ uncommon archaic obsolete

verb

1.

to gain with effort

  • “she achieved her goal despite setbacks”
Synonyms
2.

reach a point in time, or a certain state or level

  • “The thermometer hit 100 degrees”
  • “This car can reach a speed of 140 miles per hour”
Synonyms
3.

find unexpectedly

  • “the archeologists chanced upon an old tomb”
  • “she struck a goldmine”
  • “The hikers finally struck the main path to the lake”
Synonyms
4.

reach a destination, either real or abstract

  • “We hit Detroit by noon”
  • “The water reached the doorstep”
  • “We barely made it to the finish line”
  • “I have to hit the MAC machine before the weekend starts”
Synonyms

Origin

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.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.