different between complete vs attain

English

Etymology

From Middle English compleet (“full, complete”), borrowed from Old French complet or Latin completus, past participle of comple? (“I fill up, I complete”) (whence also complement, compliment), from com- + ple? (“I fill, I fulfill”) (whence also deplete, replete, plenty), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh?- (“to fill”) (English full).

Alternative forms

• compleat (archaic)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?m?pli?t/
• Rhymes: -i?t
• Hyphenation: com?plete

Verb

complete (third-person singular simple present completes, present participle completing, simple past and past participle completed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To finish; to make done; to reach the end.

   Synonyms: accomplish, finish; see also Thesaurus:end

2. (transitive) To make whole or entire.

   Synonyms: consummate, perfect, top off

3. (poker) To call from the small blind in an unraised pot.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

complete (comparative completer or more complete, superlative completest or most complete)

1. With all parts included; with nothing missing; full.

   Synonyms: entire, total; see also Thesaurus:entire

2. Finished; ended; concluded; completed.

   Synonyms: concluded, done; see also Thesaurus:finished

3. Generic intensifier.

   Synonyms: downright, utter; see also Thesaurus:total

4. (mathematical analysis, of a metric space) In which every Cauchy sequence converges to a point within the space.
5. (algebra, of a lattice) In which every set with a lower bound has a greatest lower bound.
6. (mathematics, of a category) In which all small limits exist.
7. (logic, of a proof system of a formal system with respect to a given semantics) In which every semantically valid well-formed formula is provable.
   • Gödel's first incompleteness theorem showed that Principia could not be both consistent and complete. According to the theorem, for every sufficiently powerful logical system (such as Principia), there exists a statement G that essentially reads, "The statement G cannot be proved." Such a statement is a sort of Catch-22: if G is provable, then it is false, and the system is therefore inconsistent; and if G is not provable, then it is true, and the system is therefore incomplete.^WP
8. (computing theory, of a problem) That is in a given complexity class and is such that every other problem in the class can be reduced to it (usually in polynomial time or logarithmic space).

Antonyms

• incomplete

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

complete (plural completes)

1. A completed survey.
   • 1994, industry research published in Quirk's Marketing Research Review, Volume 8, p. 125; Research Services Directory Blue Book, published by the Marketing Research Association, p 552; and Green Book, Volume 32, published by the New York Chapter, American Marketing Association, p. 451

     “If SSI says we're going to get two completes an hour, the sample will yield two Qualifieds to do the survey with us.”

   • 2013, Residential Rates OIR webinar published by PG&E, January 31, 2013

     “…our market research professionals continue to advise us that providing the level of detail necessary to customize to each typical customer type would require the survey to be too lengthy and it would be difficult to get enough completes.”

   • 2016, "Perceptions of Oral Cancer Screenings Compared to Other Cancer Screenings: A Pilot Study", thesis for Idaho State University by M. Colleen Stephenson.

     “Don’t get discouraged if you’re on a job that is difficult to get completes on! Everyone else on the job is most likely struggling, and there will be easier surveys that you will dial on.”

Further reading

• complete in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• complete in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

References

Anagrams

• Lecompte

Interlingua

Adjective

complete (comparative plus complete, superlative le plus complete)

1. complete

Italian

Adjective

complete

1. feminine plural of completo

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kom?ple?.te/, [k?m?p??e?t??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kom?ple.te/, [k?m?pl??t??]

Verb

compl?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of comple?

Portuguese

Verb

complete

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of completar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of completar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of completar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of completar

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kom?plete/, [kõm?ple.t?e]

Verb

complete

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of completar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of completar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of completar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of completar.

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman ataindre, from Old French, from Latin atting?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??te?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Verb

attain (third-person singular simple present attains, present participle attaining, simple past and past participle attained)

1. (transitive) To gain (an object or desired result).

   Synonyms: accomplish, achieve, get

   To attain such a high level of proficiency requires hours of practice each day.

   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act II, Scene 3,^[1]

     Lord Ross. Your presence makes us rich, most noble lord.

     Lord Willoughby. And far surmounts our labour to attain it.

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, London: Bradbury and Evans, Chapter 63, p. 572,^[2]

     […] he will stick at no falsehood, or hesitate at no crime, to attain his ends.

   • 1885, W. S. Gilbert, The Mikado, London: Chappell & Co., Act I, p. 6,^[3]

     […] that’s the highest rank a citizen can attain!

   • 1937, George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier, New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1958, Part 1, Chapter 5, p. 82,^[4]

     […] solitude is never easy to attain in a working-class home

   • 2007, Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Orlando: Harcourt, Chapter 11, p. 157,^[5]

     Where else could I […] hope to attain such an impressive income?

2. (transitive) To reach or come to, by progression or motion; to arrive at (a place, time, state, etc.).
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act V, Scene 5,^[6]

     […] my bones would rest,

     That have but labour’d to attain this hour.

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 10, line 1026,^[7]

     Canaan he now attains,

   • 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, London: J. Johnson, Part 1, Chapter 4, p. 150,^[8]

     It has also been asserted, by some naturalists, that men do not attain their full growth and strength till thirty; but that women arrive at maturity by twenty.

   • 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, Volume 1, Letter 3,^[9]

     the southern gales […] blow us speedily towards those shores which I so ardently desire to attain

3. (intransitive) To come or arrive, by motion, growth, bodily exertion, or efforts toward a place, object, state, etc.

   Synonyms: get, reach

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalm 139.6,^[10]

     Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I can not attain unto it.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Acts 27.12,^[11]

     if by any means they might attain to Phenice

   • 1782, William Cowper, letter to Joseph Hill dated 11 November, 1782, in Private Correspondence of William Cowper, London: Henry Colburn, 1824, Volume 1, p. 222,^[12]

     You may not, perhaps, live to see your trees attain to the dignity of timber—I, nevertheless, approve of your planting, and the disinterested spirit that prompts you to it.

   • 1810, Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake, Edinburgh: John Ballantyne, Canto 1, stanza 7, p. 10,^[13]

     For, scarce a spear’s length from his haunch,

     Vindictive toiled the blood-hounds staunch;

     Nor nearer might the dogs attain,

     Nor farther might the quarry strain.

   • 1874, John Richard Green, A Short History of the English People, London: Macmillan, Chapter 2, Section 6, p. 90,^[14]

     Few boroughs had as yet attained to power such as this,

4. (transitive, obsolete) To get at the knowledge of.

   Synonym: ascertain

   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-History of Britain, London: John Williams, Century 13, section 2, p. ,^[15]

     […] Master Camden, sometimes acknowledgeth, sometimes denieth him for an English Earle. Not that I accuse him as inconstant to himself, but suspect my self not well attaining his meaning therein.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To reach in excellence or degree.

   Synonym: equal

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Essays, “Of Innovations,” p. 139,^[16]

     Yet notwithstanding as Those that first bring Honour into their Family, are commonly more worthy, then most that succeed: So the first President (if it be good) is seldome attained by Imitation.

6. (transitive, obsolete) To reach a person after being behind them.

   Synonyms: catch up with, overtake

   • 1622, Francis Bacon, History of the Reign of King Henry VII, London, 1629, p. 174,^[17]

     The Earle finding […] the enemie retired, pursued with all celeritie into Scotland; hoping to haue ouer-taken the Scottish King, and to haue giuen him Battaile; But not attaining him in time, sate downe before the Castle of Aton […] which in a small time hee tooke.

Derived terms

• attainable

Related terms

• attainder
• attainment
• attaint
• attainture

Translations

Anagrams

• Anitta