attain

verb

at·tain | \ə-ˈtān

attained; attaining; attains

Definition of attain

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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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 on the Web

Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. — Staff Reports, Houston Chronicle, "Business Briefs for the Week of July 13-20," 13 July 2018 And every major character has spent the bulk of the season trying to attain it, or destroy it, or both. — Brian Barrett, WIRED, "Westworld’s Real Villain Has Always Been Its Privacy Policy," 24 June 2018 The percentage of women of color who have attained the role of corporate executive hasn’t grown beyond 4 percent since 2009, Working Mother said. — Samantha Bomkamp, chicagotribune.com, "Two Illinois-based companies named among best for multicultural women," 8 May 2018 That coveted home-court advantage that Portland had worked so hard to attain over 82 regular-season games was handed over in a few quick hours on Saturday. — John Canzano, OregonLive.com, "Canzano: Trail Blazers guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum go missing in Game 1 loss," 14 Apr. 2018 On Monday, Bud became the second straight hurricane to attain at least Category 3 strength in a three-day span. — Jason Samenow, Washington Post, "Category 3 Hurricane Bud forecast to strike Mexico as strong tropical storm," 12 June 2018 Experts say attaining that goal is almost impossible since utilities are opting to scrap aging reactors rather than to invest in meeting tighter post-disaster safety standards. — Mari Yamaguchi, The Seattle Times, "Japan OKs ambitious nuke energy goals, plutonium reuse plan," 3 July 2018 Among the baseball participants were several hardened October veterans, including visitors who wondered if San Diego sunshine had attained the ability to act like caffeine. — Tom Krasovic, sandiegouniontribune.com, "1998 Padres take pride in helping make downtown ballpark a reality," 10 May 2018 Twenty-two counties have a lay medical examiner system, and half of those offices have attained formal death investigation training. — Jeff Rumage, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Photos: A look inside the Ozaukee County coroner's office," 2 May 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.

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Last Updated

10 Oct 2018

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Time Traveler for attain

The first known use of attain was in the 14th century

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More Definitions for attain

attain

verb

English Language Learners Definition of attain

: to accomplish or achieve (something) : to succeed in getting or doing (something)

: to grow or increase to (a particular amount, size, etc.)

See the full definition for attain in the English Language Learners Dictionary

attain

verb

at·tain | \ə-ˈtān

attained; attaining

Kids Definition of attain

1 : to accomplish or achieve attain a goal

2 : to come into possession of : obtain attain knowledge

3 : to reach or come to gradually : arrive at … surely no bug in all the Land of Oz had ever before attained so enormous a size.— L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz