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 accomplish; to achieve.

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

2. To get at the knowledge of; to ascertain.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Fuller

     not well attaining his meaning

3. (transitive) To reach or come to, by progression or motion; to arrive at.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     Canaan he now attains.

4. (intransitive) To come or arrive, by motion, growth, bodily exertion, or efforts toward a place, object, state, etc.; to reach.
   • Bible, Psalms cxxxix. 6

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

   • Bible, Acts xxvii. 12

     if by any means they might attain to Phenice

   • (Can we date this quote?) Sir Walter Scott

     Nor nearer might the dogs attain.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Cowper

     to see your trees attain to the dignity of timber

   • (Can we date this quote?) J. R. Green

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

5. To reach in excellence or degree; to equal.
6. (obsolete) To overtake.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

Derived terms

• attainable

Translations

to accomplish; to achieve

• Bulgarian: постигам (цел), добирам се до, осъществявам (bg) (osǎštestvjavam)
• Catalan: aconseguir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 達到 (zh), 达到 (zh) (dádào)

• Dutch: bereiken (nl), realiseren (nl)
• Esperanto: atingi (eo)
• Finnish: saavuttaa (fi)
• French: atteindre (fr)
• Galician: atinguir, abranguer (gl)
• German: erreichen (de), erlangen (de)
• Greek: πετυχαίνω (el) (petychaíno), επιτυγχάνω (el) (epityncháno), κατορθώνω (el) (katorthóno)
• Hungarian: elér (hu)
• Ido: atingar (io)

• Interlingua: attinger
• Irish: ionsaigh
• Italian: raggiungere (it), ottenere (it), attenere (it)
• Japanese: 到る (いたる, itaru), 達成する (ja) (たっせいする, tassei suru)
• Latin: teneo (la)
• Norwegian: oppnå (no)
• Persian: نایل شدن‎ (fa) (nâyel šodan)
• Portuguese: atingir (pt), efetuar (pt), cumprir (pt)
• Romanian: a obtine, a realiza
• Russian: добива́ться (ru) impf (dobivátʹsja), доби́ться (ru) (dobítʹsja), достига́ть (ru) impf (dostigátʹ), дости́чь (ru) pf (dostíčʹ), дости́гнуть (ru) pf (dostígnutʹ)
• Slovak: dosiahnuť
• Spanish: lograr (es), conseguir (es)