attachment

Etymology

From French attachement, equivalent to attach +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈtætʃmənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

attachment (countable and uncountable, plural attachments)

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:

     [The umbilical cord is] the attachment connecting the fetus with the placenta.

6. (computing) A file sent along with an email.
7. (law) 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

Etymology

Borrowed from English attachment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛˈtɛtʃmənt/, /ɑˈtɛtʃmənt/
• Hyphenation: at‧tach‧ment

Noun

attachment m, n (plural attachments)

1. attachment (to an email)