All 8 Uses of
attain
in
The Idiot
- Of course they were only Epanchins, but their mother's family was noble; they might expect considerable fortunes; their father had hopes of attaining to very high rank indeed in his country's service-all of which was satisfactory.†
Chpt 1.2 *attaining = gaining or reaching something with effort
- He could not understand such a state of things, and was obliged to conclude that it was pride, the pride of an injured and imaginative woman, which had gone to such lengths that it preferred to sit and nurse its contempt and hatred in solitude rather than mount to heights of hitherto unattainable splendour.†
Chpt 1.4unattainable = not able to be gained or reached with effortstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unattainable means not and reverses the meaning of attainable. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- Now by pleading their rights alone, they will never attain all this, so the white horse, with his rider Death, comes next, and is followed by Hell.†
Chpt 2.2attain = gain or reach something with effort
- By the end of the third day the incident of the eccentric lady and Evgenie Pavlovitch had attained enormous and mysterious proportions in his mind.†
Chpt 2.11attained = gained or reached something with effort
- The undoubtedly astonished, but now more collected, General Epanchin had several times endeavoured to interrupt the prince, and not having succeeded he was now preparing to take firmer and more vigorous measures to attain his end.†
Chpt 4.7attain = gain or reach something with effort
- In order to attain to perfection, one must begin by failing to understand much.†
Chpt 4.7
- Rumour said that in the visit of Evgenie Pavlovitch was to be discerned the influence of Lizabetha Prokofievna and her husband...But if those good souls, in the boundless kindness of their hearts, were desirous of saving the eccentric young fellow from ruin, they were unable to take any stronger measures to attain that end.†
Chpt 4.10
- He had attained his end.†
Chpt 4.10attained = gained or reached something with effort
Definition:
to gain or reach something with effort