Meaning
To come to or reach (a place) by motion or progression.
Etymology
Origin: Middle English
The verb is derived from Middle English atteinen, atteynen (“to achieve, attain; to be adequate or sufficient; to affect; to come or get to (a place), reach; to corrupt, taint; to overcome, overpower; to overtake; to succeed; to tamper with; (law) to bring to justice, punish”), from ataign-, a stem of Anglo-Norman ataindre, and Old French ataindre, attaindre (“to reach”) (modern French atteindre), from Vulgar Latin *attangere, from Latin attingere, the present active infinitive of attingō (“to come into contact with, touch; to affect; to arrive at, reach; etc.”), from ad- (prefix indicating a nearing or reaching) (appearing as at- due to assimilation with the following t, inducing gemination) + tangō (“to grasp, touch; to arrive at, reach; to attain; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to grasp; to touch”)). Doublet of attainder and attinge. The noun is derived from the verb.
Synonyms & Antonyms
NYT Puzzle Appearances
Accepted in 49 recorded puzzles:
- 2026-10-02TAILMNP
- 2026-09-18ACINQTU
- 2026-09-13NADIOTX
- 2026-09-01ADILNTW
- 2026-08-29TADHINO
- 2026-08-22IACNRTU
- 2026-07-27IACNTVY
- 2026-07-25IAMNOTZ
- 2026-07-11TAILNPU
- 2026-06-12NACILPT
- 2026-06-01IACENTX
- 2026-05-25TARMINV
+37 earlier appearances in the archive.