ATTAIN • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Attain

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/ətˈeɪn/ Listen

verb

Attain v. t. (past & past part. attained; pres. part. attaining)

1.

To achieve or accomplish, that is, to reach by efforts; to gain; to compass; as, to attain rest. "Is he wise who hopes to attain the end without the means?"

2.

To gain or obtain possession of; to acquire. (Obs. with a material object.)

3.

To get at the knowledge of; to ascertain. (Obs.) "Not well attaining his meaning."

4.

To reach or come to, by progression or motion; to arrive at. "Canaan he now attains."

5.

To overtake. (Obs.)

6.

To reach in excellence or degree; to equal.

Synonyms: To Attain, Obtain, Procure. Attain always implies an effort toward an object. Hence it is not synonymous with obtain and procure, which do not necessarily imply such effort or motion. We procure or obtain a thing by purchase or loan, and we obtain by inheritance, but we do not attain it by such means.

Attain v. i.

1.

To come or arrive, by motion, growth, bodily exertion, or efforts toward a place, object, state, etc.; to reach. "If by any means they might attain to Phenice." "Nor nearer might the dogs attain." "To see your trees attain to the dignity of timber." "Few boroughs had as yet attained to power such as this."

2.

To come or arrive, by an effort of mind. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I can not attain unto it."

noun

Attain n. Attainment. (Obs.)

See images of 'Attain'

Etymology of 'Attain'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Attain" Quotes from Famous Books

... strategy more likely to attain that end than the strategy of "accumulating slowly, but inexorably, every kind of material resource"—of "laboriously teaching troops the very elements of their trade." That, and patience—and I mean a great ...

— State of the Union Addresses of Lyndon B. Johnson • Lyndon B. Johnson

... Princess most kindly, gave her an excellent supper, and after a long night's rest in a delightful bed told her that after many troubles she should finally attain her desire. ...

— The Yellow Fairy Book • Various

... manner and so grow in bulk. If they grow large enough the gravitation of the sun draws them back, and they produce a negative charge in the solar atmosphere. But it is probable that many of the particles do not attain the critical size which, according to the principles before explained, would enable the gravitation of the sun to retain them in opposition to the pressure of the waves of light, and with these particles the light pressure is dominant. Clouds of them may be supposed to be ...

— Curiosities of the Sky • Garrett Serviss

... turned to nothing. It was in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and twenty-six, on the eighteenth day of September, that I rendered up my soul to God, in sufferings. Pray God for me, ye who love art, that I may attain to His sight. Flee sin; turn to the best [objects]: for you ...

— On the Old Road Vol. 1 (of 2) - A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature • John Ruskin

... lived, their defeat was assured. As a Southern man, coming from a Gulf State, personally interested in the institution of slavery, he had a vantage-ground in the struggle which a Northern President could never attain. He had, moreover, the courage and the intelligence to uphold his principles, even in a controversy with Mr. Clay. His ignorance of political and civil affairs has been grossly exaggerated. Without taking part in politics, he had been a close observer of events, and his prolonged services at frontier ...

— Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2) • James Gillespie Blaine

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