a feeling that binds one to a person, thing, cause, ideal, or the like; devotion; regard: a fond attachment to his cousin; a profound attachment to the cause of peace.
Psychology.
an emotional bond between an infant or toddler and primary caregiver, a strong bond being vital for the child’s normal behavioral and social development.
an enduring emotional bond that develops between one adult and another in an intimate relationship: romantic attachment.
something that attaches; a fastening or tie: the attachments of a harness; the attachments of a pair of skis.
an additional or supplementary device: attachments for an electric drill.
Law. seizure of property or person by legal authority, especially seizure of a defendant's property to prevent its dissipation before trial or to acquire jurisdiction over it.
something attached, as a document added to a letter.
a computer or electronic file sent with an email.
Origin of attachment
1400–50;late Middle Englishattachement seizure < Anglo-French. See attach, -ment
Related formsnon·at·tach·ment, nouno·ver·at·tach·ment, nounpre·at·tach·ment, nounre·at·tach·ment, nounself-at·tach·ment, nounsu·per·at·tach·ment, noun
c.1400, "arrest of a person on judicial warrant" (mid-13c. in Anglo-Latin), from French attachement, from attacher (see attach). Application to property (including, later, wages) dates from 1590s; meaning "sympathy, devotion" is recorded from 1704; that of "something that is attached to something else" dates from 1797 and has become perhaps the most common use since the rise of e-mail.
