Attach
verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively). transitive
"You need to attach the carabiner to your harness."
- 2 be attached; be in contact with wordnet
- 3 To adhere; to be attached. intransitive
"The great interest which attaches to the mere knowledge of these facts cannot be doubted."
- 4 become attached wordnet
- 5 To include an attachment with a communication (especially an email or other electronic communication).
"I've attached the contract to this email."
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 cause to be attached wordnet
- 7 To come into legal operation in connection with anything; to vest.
"Dower will attach."
- 8 take temporary possession of as a security, by legal authority wordnet
- 9 To win the heart of; to connect by ties of love or self-interest; to attract; to fasten or bind by moral influence; with to.
"attached to a friend; attaching others to us by wealth or flattery"
- 10 create social or emotional ties wordnet
- 11 To connect, in a figurative sense; to ascribe or attribute; to affix; with to.
"to attach great importance to a particular circumstance"
- 12 To take, seize, or lay hold of. obsolete
"Then homeward every man attach the hand / Of his fair mistress."
- 13 To arrest, seize. obsolete
"Eftsoones the Gard, which on his state did wait, / Attacht that faitor false, and bound him strait […]"
Example
More examples"It is important that you attach your photo to the application form."
Etymology
From Middle English attachen, from Old French atachier, variant of estachier (“bind”), derived from estache (“stick”), from Frankish *stakkā, *stakō (“stick”), from Proto-Germanic *stakô (“pole, bar, stick, stake”). Doublet of attack. More at stake, stack.
Related phrases
More for "attach"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.