LITMIR.BIZ

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      The enemy made an attack upon (or on) our works.

ATTAIN.

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      Synonyms:

accomplish,	arrive at,	gain,	master,	reach,
achieve,	compass,	get,	obtain,	secure,
acquire,	earn,	grasp,	procure,	win.

      A person may obtain a situation by the intercession of friends, he procures a dinner by paying for it. Attain is a lofty word, pointing to some high or desirable result; a man attains the mountain summit, he attains honor or learning as the result of strenuous and earnest labor. Even that usage of attain which has been thought to refer to mere progress of time carries the thought of a result desired; as, to attain to old age; the man desires to live to a good old age; we should not speak of his attaining his dotage. One may attain an object that will prove not worth his labor, but what he achieves is in itself great and splendid; as, the Greeks at Marathon achieved a glorious victory. Compare DO; GET; REACH.

      Antonyms:

abandon,

fail,

forfeit,

give up,

let go,

lose,

miss.

      [65]

ATTITUDE.

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      Synonyms:

pose,

position,

posture.

      Position as applied to the arrangement or situation of the human body or limbs may denote that which is conscious or unconscious, of the living or the dead; but we do not speak of the attitude, pose, or posture of a corpse; unless, in some rare case, we might say the body was found in a sitting posture, where the posture is thought of as assumed in life, or as, at first glance, suggesting life. A posture is assumed without any special reference to expression of feeling; as, an erect posture, a reclining posture; attitude is the position appropriate to the expression of some feeling; the attitude may be unconsciously taken through the strength of the feeling; as, an attitude of defiance; or it may be consciously assumed in the attempt to express the feeling; as, he assumed an attitude of humility. A pose is a position studied for artistic effect, or considered with reference to such effect; the unconscious posture of a spectator or listener may be an admirable pose from an artist's standpoint.

ATTRIBUTE, v.

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      Synonyms:

ascribe,	associate,	connect,	impute,	refer.
assign,	charge,

      We may attribute to a person either that which belongs to him or that which we merely suppose to be his. We attribute to God infinite power. We may attribute a wrong intent to an innocent person. We may attribute a result, rightly or wrongly, to a certain cause; in such case, however, attribute carries always a concession of uncertainty or possible error. Where we are quite sure, we simply refer a matter to the cause or class to which it belongs or ascribe to one what is surely his, etc. Many diseases formerly attributed to witchcraft are now referred to the action of micro-organisms. We may attribute a matter in silent thought; we ascribe anything openly in speech or writing; King Saul said of the singing women, "They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands." We associate things which may have no necessary or causal relation; as, we may associate the striking of a clock with the serving of dinner, tho the two are not necessarily connected. We charge a person with what we deem blameworthy. We may impute good or evil, but more commonly evil.[66]

      Antonyms:

deny,

disconnect,

dissociate,

separate,

sever,

sunder.

      Prepositions:

      It is uncharitable to attribute evil motives to (archaic unto) others.

ATTRIBUTE, n.

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      Synonyms:

property,

quality.

      A quality (L. qualis, such)—the "suchness" of anything, according to the German idiom—denotes what a thing really is in some one respect; an attribute is what we conceive a thing to be in some one respect; thus, while attribute may, quality must, express something of the real nature of that to which it is ascribed; we speak of the attributes of God, the qualities of matter. "Originally 'the attributes of God' was preferred, probably, because men assumed no knowledge of the actual qualities of the Deity, but only of those more or less fitly attributed to him." J. A. H. Murray. [M.] Holiness is an attribute of God; the attributes of many heathen deities have been only the qualities of wicked men joined to superhuman power. A property (L. proprius, one's own) is what belongs especially to one thing as its own peculiar possession, in distinction from all other things; when we speak of the qualities or the properties of matter, quality is the more general, property the more limited term. A quality is inherent; a property may be transient; physicists now, however, prefer to term those qualities manifested by all bodies (such as impenetrability, extension, etc.), general properties of matter, while those peculiar to certain substances or to certain states of those substances (as fluidity, malleability, etc.) are termed specific properties; in this wider use of the word property, it becomes strictly synonymous with quality. Compare Скачать книгу