attraction
Pronunciation
- IPA: /əˈtɹækʃn̩/[1]
Etymology
It is Middle English attraccioun, borrowed from Old French atraccion and directly Latin attractio (“a drawing together”),[2][3][4] from the past participle stem of attrahere (“to draw, pull”) (see attract).[2][4]
Earliest recorded meaning
In medicine, the drawing of diseased matter to the surface, as by a poultice: about 1400.[2][4]
Semantic evolution
The absorption of matter by vessels of the body is from 1533,[5] and inhalation an obsolete sense of 1610.[5] It was extended by about 1600 to magnetic and physical forces (1607 in the OED),[2][5] and magnetic attraction is from 1626.[5] The figurative sense, a quality in a person that draws interest, is from about 1600.[2] A thing that draws a crowd, an interesting exhibition, is from 1829, a sense that developed in English and passed to French.[2] In grammar, a change in a word caused by a neighbouring one is a technical sense.[6]
Timeline
- c. 1400 – in medicine.[2]
- c. 1600 – personal attraction.[2]
- 1607 – a physical force.[5]
- 1626 – magnetic attraction.[5]
- 1829 – a crowd-pleasing exhibition.[2]
Modern meaning
Noun
- The act, power or quality of attracting; charm.
- A person, place or thing that attracts, such as an exhibition.
- (physics) A force by which one body draws another, such as gravity.
Word family
- attractionally
- counterattraction
- reattraction
Related words
- attract
- attractive
- tractor
- traction
- contract
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins