All 15 Uses

attain
in
Steppenwolf
(Auto-generated)

Look, such is man!" and at once all renown, all intelligence, all the attainments of the spirit, all progress towards the sublime, the great and the enduring in man fell away and became a monkey's trick!†

attainments = things gained with effort
In course of time I was more and more conscious, too, that this affliction was not due to any defects of nature, but rather to a profusion of gifts and powers which had not attained to harmony.†

attained = gained or reached something with effort
But I came to see more and more that from the empty spaces of his lone wolfishness he actually really admired and loved our little bourgeois world as something solid and secure, as the home and peace which must ever remain far and unattainable, with no road leading from him to them.†

unattainable = not able to be gained or reached with effort

standard 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.
It had been my wish and with the years I had attained it.†

attained = gained or reached something with effort
For every strong man attains to that which a genuine impulse bids him seek.†
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attains = gains or reaches something with effort
But in the midst of the freedom he had attained Harry suddenly became aware that his freedom was a death and that he stood alone.†

attained = gained or reached something with effort
On the other hand, he can equally give himself up entirely to the life of instinct, to the lusts of the flesh, and so direct all his efforts to the attainment of momentary pleasures.†

attainment = the gaining or reaching of something with effort; or something gained with effort
Only the strongest of them force their way through the atmosphere of the bourgeois earth and attain to the cosmic.†

attain = gain or reach something with effort
Humor alone, that magnificent discovery of those who are cut short in their calling to highest endeavor, those who falling short of tragedy are yet as rich in gifts as in affliction, humor alone (perhaps the most inborn and brilliant achievement of the spirit) attains to the impossible and brings every aspect of human existence within the rays of its prism.†

attains = gains or reaches something with effort
To attain to this, or, perhaps it may be, to be able at least to dare the leap into the unknown, a Steppenwolf must once have a good look at himself.†

attain = gain or reach something with effort
I had attained a certain serenity and elevation of life once more, submitting myself to the practice of abstract thought and to a rule of austere meditation.†

attained = gained or reached something with effort
It is far flatter, Harry, to fight for something good and ideal and to know all the time that you are bound to attain it.†

attain = gain or reach something with effort
Are ideals attainable?†

attainable = able to be gained or reached with effort

standard suffix: The suffix "-able" means able to be. This is the same pattern you see in words like breakable, understandable, and comfortable.
In the short interval between the time that I got to know Maria and the Fancy Dress Ball I was really happy; and yet I never had the feeling that this was my release and the attainment of felicity.†

attainment = the gaining or reaching of something with effort; or something gained with effort
We demonstrate to anyone whose soul has fallen to pieces that he can rearrange these pieces of a previous self in what order he pleases, and so attain to an endless multiplicity of moves in the game of life.†

attain = gain or reach something with effort

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Definitions:

(1) (attain)
to gain or reach something with effort
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)

attain in Steppenwolf (Auto-generated)

attain
in
Steppenwolf
(Auto-generated)