Both Uses
attain
in
Their Eyes Were Watching God
(Auto-generated)
- Mrs. Turner, like all other believers had built an altar to the unattainable—Caucasian characteristics for all.†
p. 145.3unattainable = 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.
- Behind her crude words was a belief that somehow she and others through worship could attain her paradise—a heaven of straighthaired, thin-lipped, high-nose boned white seraphs.†
p. 145.4 *attain = gain or reach something with effort
Definitions:
-
(1)
(attain) to gain or reach something with effort
- (2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)