7 uses
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Definition
to gain or reach something with effort
- Yes — yes — the end is not so difficult; if I had only a brain active enough to ferret out the means of attaining it.Chapter 10 (34% in)
- ...place where young ladies sat in the stocks, wore backboards, and were expected to be exceedingly genteel and precise: John Reed hated his school, and abused his master; but John Reed's tastes were no rule for mine, and if Bessie's accounts of school-discipline (gathered from the young ladies of a family where she had lived before coming to Gateshead) were somewhat appalling, her details of certain accomplishments attained by these same young ladies were, I thought, equally attractive.Chapter 3 (83% in)
- I was sent to Lowood to get an education; and it would be of no use going away until I have attained that object.Chapter 6 (44% in)
- She was very showy, but she was not genuine: she had a fine person, many brilliant attainments; but her mind was poor, her heart barren by nature: nothing bloomed spontaneously on that soil; no unforced natural fruit delighted by its freshness.Chapter 18 (31% in)
- To attain this end, are you justified in overleaping an obstacle of custom — a mere conventional impediment which neither your conscience sanctifies nor your judgment approves?Chapter 20 (90% in)
- His chest heaved once, as if his large heart, weary of despotic constriction, had expanded, despite the will, and made a vigorous bound for the attainment of liberty.Chapter 31 (88% in)
- Mary's is a clergyman, a college friend of her brother's, and, from his attainments and principles, worthy of the connection.Chapter 38 — Conclusion (79% in)
There are no more uses of "attain" in Jane Eyre.
Typical Usage
(best examples)