attaché
Americannoun
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a diplomatic official attached to an embassy or legation, especially in a technical capacity.
a commercial attaché;
a cultural attaché.
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a military officer who is assigned to a diplomatic post in a foreign country in order to gather military information.
an air attaché;
an army attaché;
a naval attaché.
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Also attache attaché case.
noun
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a specialist attached to a diplomatic mission
military attaché
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a junior member of the staff of an embassy or legation
Discover More
Some nations disguise spies as attachés.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of attaché
1825–35; < French: literally, attached, past participle of attacher to attach
Explanation
An attaché is a thin briefcase used for carrying papers. It is sometimes called an attaché case. You may notice that in spy movies, an attaché is often swapped out by the bad guy, and then the good guy spends the rest of the movie trying to get it back. Attaché comes from the French attacher, which literally means "attached," and it was first applied to someone working for a diplomat, such as a junior officer. Now an attaché is a technical expert assigned to the staff of a diplomatic mission. If you are an expert on the customs of a certain country, you may be asked to be a cultural attaché and advice the ambassador for that country.
Vocabulary lists containing attache
"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
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English Words Derived from French, List 4
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Monster
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“It’s a five alarm emergency that’s dividing North America from Europe,” said John Foreman, a former U.K. defense attaché in Moscow and Kyiv.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026
And in May, British diplomat Capt Adrian Coghill was given a week to leave Russia, days after the Russian defence attaché was expelled from London for alleged espionage as an "undeclared military intelligence officer".
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2025
The ministry summoned a British diplomat to inform him that the attaché had been declared “persona non grata,” according to a statement.
From New York Times ● May 16, 2024
The German government made that offer also to the Israeli military attaché in Berlin, Boris Pistorius told reporters on Wednesday.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 11, 2023
This mysterious evidence of guilt dumbfounded every attaché of the show save the manager, who continued to maintain his splendid nerve in the presence of a half a hundred rifles.
From Sawdust & Spangles Stories & Secrets of the Circus by Coup, W. C.
Military attachés, too, from a variety of embassies are observing the drill from a viewing platform.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2025
The others include the head of chancery and the former and current financial attachés at the country's mission to the United Nations in New York.
From Reuters ● Nov. 26, 2021
In the early 1950s, the US government, in particular the Department of State and the CIA, tried using independent scientists as attachés — actually, spies.
From Nature ● Oct. 30, 2018
High-level defectors he reached for interviews described embassy officials and military attachés smuggling ivory from Angola, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as trafficking rhino horn from South Africa and Mozambique.
From National Geographic ● Oct. 16, 2017
We were lodged in two spacious houses facing the principal street—the Ministers with their numerous attachés in one, and the officers adjoining.
From Los Gringos Or, An Inside View of Mexico and California, with Wanderings in Peru, Chili, and Polynesia by Wise, H. A. (Henry Augustus)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
