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Definition
to gain or reach something with effort- She was the first woman to attain the rank of general.
attain = gain or reach something with effort
- Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.Helen Keller
- They hope to attain effective law and order in the region before withdrawing troops.
- Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.Abigail Adams
- "I have only to go stubbornly on towards my aim, and I shall attain my end,"Tolstoy, Leo -- Anna Karenina
- There are men whose desire for truth is so great that to attain it they will shatter the very foundation of their world.Maugham, W. Somerset -- Moon and Sixpence
- Jack drew up his legs, clasped his knees, and frowned in an effort to attain clarity.William Golding -- Lord of the Flies
- He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility.Ernest Hemingway -- The Old Man and the Sea
- Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained.Abraham Lincoln -- Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
- There was much joy throughout the town when this greatly desirable object was attained.Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Scarlet Letter
- When I had attained the age of seventeen my parents resolved that I should become a student at the university of Ingolstadt.Mary Shelley -- Frankenstein
- It occurred to me that he had been very slowly bending toward her all evening to attain this proximity, and even while I watched I saw him stoop one ultimate degree and kiss at her cheek.F. Scott Fitzgerald -- The Great Gatsby
- ...But 'tis a common proof,
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
But, when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend.William Shakespeare -- Julius Caesar - I shall have glory by this losing day,
More than Octavius and Mark Antony
By this vile conquest shall attain unto.William Shakespeare -- Julius Caesar - Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest
That have but labour'd to attain this hour.William Shakespeare -- Julius Caesar - Practice elocution, poise and how to attain itF. Scott Fitzgerald -- The Great Gatsby
- His spirit rose, as it were, with a bound, and attained a nearer prospect of the sky, than throughout all the misery which had kept him grovelling on the earth.Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Scarlet Letter
- Now, however, her interview with the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, on the night of his vigil, had given her a new theme of reflection, and held up to her an object that appeared worthy of any exertion and sacrifice for its attainment.Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Scarlet Letter
- It was to teach them, that the holiest amongst us has but attained so far above his fellows as to discern more clearly the Mercy which looks down, and repudiate more utterly the phantom of human merit, which would look aspiringly upward.Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Scarlet Letter
- When, however, it forms its judgment, as it usually does, on the intuitions of its great and warm heart, the conclusions thus attained are often so profound and so unerring as to possess the character of truth supernaturally revealed.Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Scarlet Letter
attain = gain or reach something with effort
attain = gain or reach something with effort
attained = achieved (gained with effort)
attained = reached (with effort)
attained = reached
attain = gain or reach something with effort
attains = gains or reaches something with effort