DictionaryAI

attain

verb
uh-TAYN/əˈteɪn/

Formsattains, attaining, attained

6 meanings of attain

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To gain something you have aimed for, such as a goal, object, or desired result.

    The company hoped to attain a larger share of the market.

    Few athletes attain the level of fitness required for the Olympics.

    Similarachieve, get, accomplish

    Oppositelose, forfeit

    Note

    Effort is built into this sense: what is attained has been aimed at and worked for, which sets it apart from plain get. Its usual objects are ends, ranks and levels. Thackeray, in Vanity Fair, describes a man who will "hesitate at no crime, to attain his ends". The word reached English through Anglo-Norman ataindre from Latin attingō, the same source behind its doublets attainder and attinge.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To reach or arrive at a place, time, or state through movement or gradual progress.

    The climbers attained the ridge after a grueling ascent.

    By midday the travelers attain the river crossing they had aimed for.

    Similarreach, gain

  3. 3
    verbintransitive
    To come or arrive at a place, object, or state through motion, growth, or sustained effort.

    Only through years of devotion did he attain to mastery of the craft.

    They labored for decades before attaining to any measure of comfort.

    Similarreach, get

    Note

    The construction that needs a preposition: attain to, or in older English attain unto. The King James Bible of 1611 has "I can not attain unto it," and Cowper hopes trees may "attain to the dignity of timber." Where the transitive "reach" meaning takes its goal directly, this one routes it through to. Walter Scott even lets the verb stand alone: "Nor nearer might the dogs attain."

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To come to learn or gain knowledge of a fact or truth.

    Similarascertain

    Note

    Knowledge rather than achievement is the object here. Thomas Fuller, in 1655, suspects himself of "not well attaining his meaning" in Camden. Because the sense is obsolete, a modern sentence like "he attained the meaning" will be read as boasting of an accomplishment. Where the older idea is wanted, ascertain or grasp says it plainly.

  2. 5
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To equal or rival something in excellence or degree.
    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.
    1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Innovations”

    Similarequal

    Note

    Here the object is a standard to be matched, not a goal to be won. Francis Bacon, in his 1625 essay "Of Innovations," warns that a good first precedent "is seldome attained by Imitation": followers rarely equal their founders. Read today, attain in this position sounds like achieve, so modern writing uses equal or rival for this idea.

  3. 6
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To catch up with and reach a person who was ahead of you.

    The pursuers attained the thieves just outside the city gates.

    He spurred his horse to attain the carriage ahead.

    Similarovertake

    Note

    A pursuit word from the seventeenth century. Francis Bacon writes in 1622 of an earl who hoped to have "over-taken the Scottish King" but, "not attaining him in time," sat down before a castle instead. The pairing shows the sense plainly: attain as overtake. The use is obsolete, and today catch up with or overtake does the work.

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Origin

It comes from Middle English atteynen, by way of Anglo-Norman ataindre and Old French, from the Latin attingō. It is a doublet of attainder and attinge.