Attachment

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈtætʃmÉ™nt/

Origin

Borrowing from fr attachement, equivalent to attach + -ment.

Full definition of attachment

Noun

1. The act or process of (physically or figuratively) attaching.
• 2005, Rebecca N. Baergen, Manual of Benirschke and Kaufmann's Pathology of the Human Placenta, page 71:The “implantation window” is a short, specific phase during which attachment of the blastocyst occurs.
2. A strong bonding towards or with.I have such an attachment towards my fiancé!
3. A dependence, especially a strong one.
• 2003, Griffith Edwards, Alcohol: The World's Favorite Drug, page 63:Through every other kind of drug experience, however, ran his attachment to alcohol.
4. A device attached to a piece of equipment or a tool.
• 1978, Walter H. Wager, Time of reckoning, page 194:Zimchenko's phone had a tape attachment, ...
5. The means by which something is physically attached.
• 2012, Sinikka Elliott, Not My Kid: What Parents Believe about the Sex Lives of Their Teenagers, page 46:umbilical cord is the attachment connecting the fetus with the placenta.
6. (computing) A file sent along with an email.
7. (legal) Taking a person's property to satisfy a court-ordered debt.attachment of earnings
8. (meteorology) The act or process by which any (downward) leader connects to any available (upward) streamer in a lightning flash.
• 2009, Jakke Mäkelä, Eero Karvinen, Niko Porjo, Antti Mäkelä and Tapio Tuomi, Attachment of Natural Lightning Flashes to Trees: Preliminary Statistical Characteristics, published in the Journal of Lightning Research, volume 1

Derived terms

• attachment disorder