attained

American  

[uh-teynd] / əˈteɪnd /

adjective

1. reached or achieved, often after considerable time and effort.

   Any country with a reactor and a fairly easily attained level of expertise can build an atomic bomb.

2. having reached a specified level of accomplishment; skilled or expert.

   He was an eminent professor of religion and a highly attained mystic.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of attain.

Other Word Forms

• unattained
  adjective
• well-attained
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of attained

First recorded in 1590–1600; attain ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; attain ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

Regardless of what goes into the McRib or how it’s priced, the sandwich has attained a status that arguably makes it the most celebrated limited-time item in fast-food history.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 29, 2026

Instead, he explores the wounds inflicted by fame’s piercing orbit, implying that absolution isn’t attained by climbing stardom’s echelons, but by falling just before reaching the top, hitting every last regret on the way down.

From Salon • Apr. 24, 2026

Last year, it attained a valuation of $2.96 billion and recently finished two years of digitizing maps and other documents from the state archives in neighboring Zambia, where it hit pay dirt.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026

They attained all their military objectives but were forced to withdraw by President Eisenhower of the United States.

From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026

That one would be the eighty-second Lord of Stormhold and Master of the High Crags; it was, after all, how he had attained his own title several hundred years before.

From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman

Related Words

• accomplished
• completed
• executed
• finished
• performed