ATTAIN • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • 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

... Sheik Salah caught were sinking deep. They were of the intense purity and holiness of God and of His laws, and of the need of His power to attain to the keeping of them, as well as of His Sacrifice to atone for man's sinfulness. Sheik Salah could not rest without hearing more, and becoming determined to obtain employment at Cawnpore, he undertook to copy Persian manuscripts for Sabat, and was lodged ...

— Pioneers and Founders - or, Recent Workers in the Mission field • Charlotte Mary Yonge

... Johnson could not bear; he thought it impossible, perhaps, for another Man to strike out the greatest Thoughts in the finest Expression, and to reach those Excellencies of Poetry with the Ease of a first Imagination, which himself with infinite Labour and Study could but hardly attain to. Johnson was certainly a very good Scholar, and in that had the advantage of Shakespear; tho' at the same time I believe it must be allow'd, that what Nature gave the latter, was more than a Ballance for what Books had given the former; and the Judgment of a great ...

— Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear (1709) • Nicholas Rowe

... cause, indeed, was the cause of God, he remained unshakenly convinced; but in a sadder spirit than he had ever shown before, he left God's will to determine what amount of visible success that cause should attain to in the present evil world, or how far the decision should depend ...

— Life of Luther • Julius Koestlin

... boasted little, but we knew ourselves better. There was as yet small talk of independence, of separation. Another year was to elapse before Thomas Paine's Common Sense should flash a flood of light as from some new sun upon men's minds, and show us both our real goal and the way to attain it. But about fighting, we had resolved ...

— In the Valley • Harold Frederic

... by His earliest followers. Lives of Christ by historical students have their value when our main aim is historical information; but the best of them is poor indeed compared with our gospels when we wish to attain the life of Christ's followers. The humblest reader of the New Testament has the same chance with the most learned scholar of attaining a true knowledge of Jesus for religious purposes; and Jesus remains, ...

— Some Christian Convictions - A Practical Restatement in Terms of Present-Day Thinking • Henry Sloane Coffin

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