attain

verb at·tain \ ə-ˈtān \

|Updated on: 15 Aug 2018

Examples: attain in a Sentence

Definition of attain

attained; attaining; attains

transitive verb

1 : to reach as an end : gain, achieve

attain a goal

2 : to come into possession of : obtain

he attained preferment over his fellows

3 : to come to as the end of a progression or course of movement

They attained the top of the hill.

attain a ripe old age

intransitive verb

: to come or arrive by motion, growth, or effort —usually used with to

will probably attain to a height of six feet

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attainability

play \-ˌtā-nə-ˈbi-lə-tē\ noun

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attainable

play \-ˈtā-nə-bəl\ adjective

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Examples of attain in a Sentence

a quest to attain enlightenment
She refused to let the injury keep her from attaining her goal of being in the Olympics.
This kind of tree can attain a height of 20 feet within just a few years.
The car can attain a top speed of 200 mph.

Recent Examples of attain from the Web

Lucas Torreira's agent Pablo Betancourt has revealed that Arsenal beat Borussia Dortmund, Napoli and several Spanish clubs to attain his client's signature.

— SI.com, "Lucas Torreira's Agent Reveals the Clubs Arsenal Beat to Sign Uruguay International," 12 July 2018
In his statement, Officer Omar Martinez said that after a string of vehicle break-ins, the command staff told him there was only one way to attain a 100 percent clearance rate on property crimes.

— charles rabin, jay weaver and david ovalle, miamiherald, "The chief wanted perfect stats, so cops were told to pin crimes on blacks, probe found," 12 July 2018
An African refugee falls in love with a Hungarian woman while trying to attain citizenship in Roland Vranik's drama.

— frank scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, "'The Citizen': Film Review," 5 July 2018
If this trend continues, very many features that are very hard to attain — like hairlessness — may become necessary.

— heather widdows, Time, "Body Hair Is Natural. Society Thinking Otherwise Is Dangerous," 13 June 2018
Electronic items are made of materials that take a lot of energy to attain in the first place.

— madeline mitchell, Cincinnati.com, "What you can and can't recycle, according to the experts at Rumpke," 12 June 2018
To attain citizenship, or even a green card, most immigrants who arrive illegally must return to their home countries for 10 years before applying to re-enter the United States.

— rick montgomery, kansascity, "Deported by ICE, Blue Line manager still runs hockey bar, prays with family every day," 10 June 2018
The 3-year-old American thoroughbred racehorse, Justify, came into Saturday’s race hoping to attain the elusive Triple Crown title — reserved only for horses that win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes all in the same year.

— PEOPLE.com, "Justify Wins the Belmont Stakes, and Races Into History as the New Triple Crown Winner," 9 June 2018
The triple is generally the hardest part of the cycle to attain.

— paul johnson, Elgin Courier-News, "Dandy DH: Matt Rodriguez hits for cycle as Huntley beats Loyola and advances to state for second time," 5 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'attain.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of attain

Middle English atteynen, from Anglo-French ateign-, stem of ateindre to reach, accomplish, convict, from Vulgar Latin *attangere, alteration of Latin attingere, from ad- + tangere to touch — more at ²tangent

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

See Words from the same year