"Attain" traces back to the Latin attingere, meaning "to touch, or to arrive at," which breaks down further into bits that mean "to (ad-)" and "touch (tangere)." So in a sense, to attain something is to arrive at it, as if you're able to reach out and touch it.

In English, we first used "attain" to mean "to touch" very literally, even "to smack or strike." Over the centuries, though, the meaning grew more figurative: "to come close enough to touch, to reach, to arrive at."

That's how we most often use it today. To attain something, like a higher level or an achievement in a video game, or a more powerful or better-paying position in a career, is to get to it, usually with a lot of effort.

You might call something "attainable" if it's possible to get to it with a lot of effort.

And you might call something "unattainable" if, despite plenty of effort, it's impossible to get to it.

Part of speech:

"Attain" is a verb, the transitive kind: "Women finally attained the right to vote;" "You have to rack up a certain amount of spending to attain gold status on that credit card."

Other forms: 

The other verb forms are "attained" and "attaining."

The noun is "attainment."

The adjectives we'll focus on are "attainable" (pronounced "uh TAIN uh bull;" hear it here) and "unattainable" (pronounced "UN uh TAIN uh bull;" hear it here), as in "I need to pick an attainable goal this time" and "Ugh, I picked another unattainable goal."

If you need some adverbs, you've got "attainably" and "unattainably," as in "The goal was set high, but attainably high" and "Photo filters create beautiful results—unattainably beautiful in real life."

how to use it:

"Attain" and its other forms are formal and very common. Pick them when you want to sound serious as you describe people reaching what they're striving for, especially when you see goals or targets as metaphorical places to reach.

You could talk about things that attain a certain height, size, speed, range, or distance. 

Or, talk about people who attain certain goals, gains, levels, statuses, and positions.

To get even more abstract, talk about people attaining wisdom, knowledge, truth, inner peace and so on. If you can imagine some state of being as a metaphorical spot on a map, you can talk about people attaining it.

And to use the adjectives, talk about attainable or unattainable goals, gains, levels, statuses, and positions: "Thanks to instructional videos online, new skills are more attainable than ever;" "Improvement is attainable, but perfection is unattainable."

examples:

"Over the decades, the co-operative [Lijjat] has allowed generations of women to attain financial independence."
   — Devina Gupta, BBC, 2 January 2025

"He possessed great knowledge, said the believers; he remembered his former lives, he had attained Nirvana and never returned on the cycle, he plunged no more into the troubled stream of forms."
  — Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, 1922

"It was a time when hope for El Barrio seemed fertile, and love at last seemed attainable."
  — Ernesto Quiñonez, Bodega Dreams, 2000

"The indoor plumbing we had once taken for granted now was an unattainable luxury."
  — Leon Leyson, The Boy on the Wooden Box, 2013

has this page helped you understand "attain"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "attain" without saying "achieve" or "obtain."

try it out:

Check this out, from Robert Cormier's novel The Chocolate War:

"When he ran, he forgot about his acne and his awkwardness and the shyness that paralyzed him when a girl looked his way. Even his thoughts became sharper, and things were simple and uncomplicated—he could solve math problems when he ran or memorize football play patterns. Often he rose early in the morning, before anyone else, and poured himself liquid through the sunrise streets, and everything seemed beautiful, everything in its proper orbit, nothing impossible, the entire world attainable."

Can you relate? Even if you're not a runner? I hope so.

If you can, talk about a time you felt like "the entire world was attainable." If you've never felt like that, then talk about a time when you realized something that had seemed unattainable was actually attainable.

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "It's That Thing..."

We'll play with some highly slangy, reasonably wholesome terms, courtesy of Urban Dictionary.

I'll give you three terms, and you attempt to define them. Scroll down to see the correct definitions, and give yourself a point for each term that you defined either correctly or believably.

Try these today:

1. Brain lint

2. Y'allywood

3. Vanifesto

review this word:

1. The opposite of ATTAIN could be

A. LOSE.
B. SEND.
C. FOLLOW.

2. In his book Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia, Marc Favreau wrote, "For intellectuals, journalists, and millions of workers, a future without capitalism seemed _____ and attainable."

A. real
B. threatening
C. out-of-touch

Answers to the review questions: 1. A 2. A From the game: Remember, even if you're wrong, give yourself a point for coming up with a believable definition! Here are the definitions that Urban Dictionary lists. 1. Brain lint: "Information that serves no purpose and consumes valuable space in your head." Example: I can sing you the jingle for the now-defunct Rouse's Barbecue, including its address. Thanks, TV. 2. Y'allywood: "The burgeoning film industry in Georgia. Because of state tax incentives, more production companies are moving shoot locations from traditional (but expensive) locations like Hollywood and New York in order to save money." 3. Vanifesto: "A van covered in political stickers and other propaganda reflecting the owner’s political beliefs."

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.