verb

• 1Join or fasten (something) to something else.

  ‘ attach your safety line to the bridge’

  More example sentences

  • ‘There is also continued debate about whether they should be straight or helical, and about how best, mechanically, to align and attach them.’
  • ‘They admitted attaching two boards to roadside railings in St Paul's Cray and were ordered to pay fines of £600 and costs totalling £300.’
  • ‘At the end of a two-day trial at Cirencester Magistrates Court, District Judge Paul Clark ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove that in attaching the flag she intended to disrupt or obstruct security at the base.’
  • ‘It was a simple matter of slotting it into the case and attaching it with a few screws.’
  • ‘Before setting off we test our girl scouting skills by attaching Hanna's sleeping bag to her bulging rucksack with bits of string.’
  • ‘so I create a sari-like effect with the blanket, and then pick up the baby bundle, gently laying him down in the cot and attaching the strap with the Velcro.’
  • ‘Before going anywhere Debbie cracked on with the table decorations, attaching the ribbons for the balloons and spraying them with gold glitter while I blitzed the kitchen.’
  • ‘The surgery involves taking a piece of ligament from elsewhere in the body and attaching it within tunnels drilled into the bone around the knee joint, in place of the damaged ligament.’
  • ‘Police arrested a drug courier in London after attaching a covert listening device to his vehicle in Yorkshire and monitoring his conversations, a court heard.’
  • ‘They claim that by attaching cargo to a set of giant cables orbiting the Earth it is possible to propel the materials to the moon with a fraction of the fuel needed to send it in rockets.’
  • ‘A few days ago I thought I saw a 333 in Sainsburys car park, but as I got closer I saw it was a 933, but the bolt that attached the number plate was right in the circle of the 9.’
  • ‘Tasers, which fire darts attached by wire to a battery, are frequently used by US law enforcement and are now about to be trialled on behalf of Scottish police by several forces south of the Border.’
  • ‘The Stromness lifeboat stood by while a tow rope was attached by the Banff-registered fishing boat Enterprise.’
  • ‘This meant climbing to the top of the 80 ft mast in a safety harness, with the yacht plunging in gusts of wind and a choppy sea, and holding on for dear life for five hours while she attached a spare halyard.’
  • ‘In the lift I took to go home yesterday, someone had attached a sheet of paper which said ‘Propaganda is to democracy what violence is to dictatorship’.’
  • ‘During the Depression, unemployed veterans attached pawn tickets to their medal ribbons - a potent demonstration of their perceived betrayal.’
  • ‘The Alhambra's stage has been transformed by a huge team of technicians who assembled the rink then attached it, by rubber tubes running underneath, to a chiller unit.’
  • ‘The Rock doesn't simply sit in the sea just off the coast of southern Spain, to which it is attached by a narrow isthmus, it very thoroughly dominates the entire coastline.’
  • ‘I could have dismantled the existing network cable from its wall connectors and fed that back through, then attached the new cable and pulled them both down together.’
  • ‘He could easily have attached an explosive device and blown up both subs.’
  • ‘Mr Dilworth, realising if he didn't act quickly there would be a tragedy, cut the tackle of his fishing line to which he attached a three-ounce weight.’
  • ‘He also holds the record for attaching the most clothes pegs to his face: 159 at the last count.’
  • ‘When a warm body walks through thick underbrush and passes a tick, the tick attaches itself by clinging to clothing or fur.’
  • ‘You'll definitely need to attach a good heavy length of chain to it too.’
  • ‘I clung onto bits of ice and tried desperately to remove the harness attaching me to the sledge.’

  Synonyms

  fasten, fix, affix, join, connect, couple, link, secure, make fast, tie, tie up, bind, fetter, strap, rope, tether, truss, lash, hitch, moor, anchor, yoke, chain

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1Add or fasten (a related document) to another, or to an email.
     ‘I attach a copy of the memo for your information’
     More example sentences

     • ‘Make sure it is printed on good quality A4 size paper and never attach extra documents, letters or certificates - save these for the interview.’
     • ‘I attached the document he needed to send and I copied him in so he'd know it had been sent.’
     • ‘I am attaching three documents that can be used to circulate this information.’
     • ‘Also, attaching documents may give rise to the release of information not intended, hence the importance of vetting attachments.’
     • ‘I was in a hurry and I forgot to attach an important document.’
     • ‘He attaches a slightly more elaborate PDF document telling me what's wrong with the government's plans.’
     • ‘For the public record, the complete text has been attached as Appendix I.’
     • ‘What was initially sent to Mr Croft following this request was an email attaching the two photos with extra text.’
     • ‘We note your statement in your letter of 7 June 2001 that you have not seen this letter and we attach a further copy.’
     • ‘I've attached a photo from him.’
     • ‘Background details can be attached for more detailed information.’
     • ‘I get excited when publishers attach a short scrawled note, but this was a really in depth letter, and very constructive.’
     • ‘Afterwards she sent me an email attaching a picture which she said looks just like me.’
     • ‘5 seconds later I realise that I haven't attached my CV.’
     • ‘I've attached a picture of ours (click image for enlargement).’
     • ‘Darby penned an anonymous complaint and attached the CD.’
     • ‘We know this because, when replying to the editor, he attached emails from these parties to add weight to the points he was making when commenting on my article.’
     • ‘She also attached a list of piano teachers near me.’
  2. 1.2Include (a condition) as part of an agreement.
     ‘the Commission can attach appropriate conditions to the operation of the agreement’
     More example sentences

     • ‘When he first discussed the seminar with a senior officer from another government, there were conditions attached, appropriate rank being one of them.’
     • ‘But there were still certain conditions to be attached, so far as most of the female players were concerned.’
     • ‘It attached 21 conditions, including the relocation of a planned crèche and nursing home.’
     • ‘Lew sentenced her to probation and attached a condition: she had to give up drugs.’
     • ‘When the authority grants such licences, it normally attaches conditions in order to restrict the effect of the anti-competitive aspects of the deal.’
     • ‘While emphasising his party's readiness to sign off on the treaty, he attached two conditions.’
     • ‘It's not being harsh but we simply have to attach some conditions because we cannot give money just like that.’
     • ‘If a friend or family member gets involved there can often be conditions attached and emotional pressure on how to use the money or conflicts can be created.’
     • ‘The report also challenges donor countries, the World Bank, and the IMF to focus on attaching fewer conditions such as spending caps and fiscal targets to foreign aid contributions.’
     • ‘That's why the World Bank attaches so many conditions when it sponsors.’
     • ‘He said we should uphold the principle of free speech while recognising that it comes with conditions attached.’
     • ‘The licensing procedure requires clearance from police, fire, health and safety, local authority, and local residents, and may come with expensive conditions attached.’
     • ‘Meanwhile permission has been granted for 32 houses at Craigy, Monasterevin, with 54 conditions attached.’
     • ‘However, we look forward to the day when all farming and management of the countryside is supported through payments that have environmental conditions attached.’
     • ‘The committee formalised an agreement to grant the caterer after-hours access to the formal gardens, albeit with conditions attached and a fireworks ban.’
     • ‘There are a number of conditions attached: you must be a member of a band.’
     • ‘Certain benefits, such as those embracing unemployment, disability and maternity, have always had conditions attached.’
     • ‘It's worth bearing in mind, however, that regular savings accounts tend to have a raft of terms and conditions attached, so read the small print carefully before signing up.’
     • ‘IMF-World Bank programs must not have conditions attached that force poor countries to open their markets regardless of the impact on poor people.’
     • ‘Managers must meet tough criteria prior to certification but this invariably comes with a range of conditions and deadlines attached.’
     • ‘With that, remittances by Ghanaians working abroad have become more significant than development aid, which is normally delivered with a lot of conditions attached.’
     • ‘However, European Commission regulators attached conditions that were considered too restrictive to make the deal worthwhile.’
  3. 1.3attach oneself toAccompany (a person or group) without being invited.
     ‘they were all too ready to attach themselves to you for the whole day’
     More example sentences

     • ‘Many of the characters in the book - the people he meets and attaches himself to along the way - will be dead in a decade.’
     • ‘Now the weaknesses have overwhelmed them and Williams has become a raving, paranoid, conspiratorial embarrassment to himself and to any cause he attaches himself to.’
     • ‘You are a princess, and whether you like it or not, you were born for a greater purpose than frolicking around with that no good, filthy lummox you have attached yourself to.’
     • ‘The new Liberal Unionist group he attached himself to never made it up with the rump of the Liberal Party, and eventually allied with the Conservatives.’
     • ‘The larger the thing that you can credibly attach yourself to, the more meaning you get out of life.’
     • ‘Besides, I didn't really want to attach myself to too many people, just to have them get older on me and then die.’
     • ‘I pick artists that I attach myself to, bring them into my fold and somehow turn what they do into what I do.’
     • ‘You believe I have a choice as to whom I am to attach myself to, but you are wrong.’
     • ‘Something had to be done, and oddly enough, it happened that very same day in the form of a question asked by the girl Sketch was trying to attach himself to at that time.’
     • ‘Now businesses have reasons for attaching themselves to arts events.’
     • ‘He says the problem now being faced by the Home Office comes from a group of racist and xenophobic white males who are attaching themselves to the English supporters club.’
     • ‘However, the alacrity with which other Nato states have accepted this role suggests they think they have more to benefit from attaching themselves to the US vanguard than opposing it.’
     • ‘Bohemians have been Rovers' traditional rivals since the demise of Drumcondra in the 1970s, with skinhead gangs attaching themselves to both clubs.’
     • ‘But by not attaching myself to a place… heck, even a country… I now feel an emotional distance between me and my friends.’
     • ‘He quotes Adorno in the essay, and like Adorno, he plays it safe by attaching himself to the contemporary establishment avant-garde.’
     • ‘Early coups included pictures of the October anniversary parade at the time of the 1957 Sputnik launch, which he got by attaching himself to a Soviet TV crew.’
     • ‘Everybody attaches themselves to a group, a tribe, a caste.’
     • ‘A gang of troublemakers which attaches itself to York City Football Club has re-emerged - and a member has posted a site dedicated to the group on to the Internet.’
  4. 1.4Appoint (someone) for special or temporary duties.
     ‘I was attached to another working group’
     More example sentences

     • ‘I was attached as security detail to the civil affairs team as they toured the little town nearby.’
     Synonyms

     assign, allot, allocate, detail, appoint

     View synonyms

• 2attach something toAttribute importance or value to.

  ‘he doesn't attach too much importance to fixed ideas’

  More example sentences

  • ‘But any country that attaches any importance to the universal values of human rights should keep a close eye on them, and be willing to speak up whenever their words differ from their actions.’
  • ‘In a Scotland context, he has been criticised for not attaching sufficient importance to goalkicking.’
  • ‘This goes to the heart of why Graydon attaches such importance to the event.’
  • ‘If the elite attaches no great importance to having children, this says something quite disturbing about how our society views itself, and its future.’
  • ‘Our society attaches an absurd importance to the way people get their money.’
  • ‘The two things he attached most importance to were the freedom of the individual and the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.’
  • ‘Such people tend to emphasise the separate status of their religion and attach an exaggerated importance to dress or behaviour.’
  • ‘Contemporary thinking about medical ethics attaches much importance to respecting the patient's autonomy.’
  • ‘He attaches sufficient importance to the note to reproduce a photograph of it in the book.’
  • ‘As someone who attaches no supernatural value to the crucifixion of Jesus, I would have preferred just a plain, non-supernatural special effects account of what probably happened that Friday.’
  • ‘The law rightly attaches a high value to a person's reputation not only for that individual's sake but also in the wider interests of the public.’
  • ‘Moreover, realists argue that the need for survival requires state leaders to distance themselves from traditional morality which attaches a positive value to caution, piety, and the greater good of humankind as a whole.’
  • ‘She attaches a high importance to female education.’
  • ‘He only remembered the visit to the stand on being asked about it by his solicitors, and had attached no importance to it at the time.’
  • ‘Why did he think successive Irish governments attached such importance to talking to Adams and McGuinness?’
  • ‘And even if they are aware of these factors, they don't attach much value to them.’
  • ‘When life and death are treated in such a casual manner, are we not breeding people who attach no value to human life, not even their own?’
  • ‘Do you attach any importance to what the press say about your music and your live performances?’
  • ‘Albert then told me, without attaching any importance to it, that he had had a happy childhood.’
  • ‘Dmitri was thankful that she had not attached any importance to his absence.’
  • ‘In other words, people already attached some importance to this commodity.’
  • ‘We need to look first at the value the classical Greeks attached to politics.’

  Synonyms

  lay, pin, place, impose, fix

  View synonyms

  1. 2.1attach tono object (of importance or value) be attributed to.
     ‘a good deal of prominence attaches to the central union federations’
     More example sentences

     • ‘However, the 5% rate attaches to the value of the house only, not the contents.’
     • ‘The value which attaches to them can - up to a point - be measured in a price tag.’
     • ‘Judging whether any value attaches to the use made of it in these other spheres in any case depends on first understanding the ideas themselves.’
     • ‘That being the case, no importance attaches to the fact that the State of Israel did not exist when the offences were committed.’
     • ‘This means that the conclusions he reaches concerning cultural values attaching to old age are not in any way tested against records of actual practices.’
     • ‘Just as society grows, so do common needs grow, and so grows the value attaching to land.’
     • ‘However, it is unclear why intrinsic value should attach to cultural survival as such.’
     • ‘I recognise at once that the damage to the property value as a result of the stigma attaching to this estate is just part of the damage he has suffered by unknowingly buying a house on an estate with a severe pollution problem.’
     • ‘Much importance will soon attach to robotized means of warfare in underground service lines.’
     Synonyms

     ascribe, assign, attribute, accredit, apply, impute

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• 3Law
  archaic Seize (a person or property) by legal authority.

  ‘the Earl Marshal attached Gloucester for high treason’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Buffalo City is successfully recovering money from defaulting ratepayers by attaching their properties.’
  • ‘To recover the alleged stolen money, he said the unit had attached all Stone's properties here and in Port Elizabeth.’
  • ‘They also attached property belonging to Naomi Worth, worth close to a million rand, including a Northcrest house.’

  Synonyms

  seize, confiscate, commandeer, requisition, appropriate, expropriate, take possession of, take away, take, sequester, sequestrate

  View synonyms