attachments

IPA/əˈtætʃ.mənt/
KK[ətˈætʃmənts]IPA/əˈtætʃ.mənt/

attachments — noun

  • attachmentssingular
  • attachmentsesplural

1. Extra parts you fit onto equipment so it can handle a special task.

1.nounB1
Definition

Extra parts you fit onto equipment so it can handle a special task.

Example

The mixer came with three attachments for slicing, grating, and kneading dough.

machine/tool + with attachments for different jobs

Kenji washed the blender attachments after making pumpkin soup for lunch.

Common collocations
  • kitchen attachments
  • drill attachments
  • optional attachments
  • attachments for mixing
  • attachments for cutting
Synonyms
  • accessories

    broader and often used for useful extras, not only machine parts

  • add-ons

    more informal and often used for optional extra features

  • accessory parts

    more technical and less common in everyday speech

Grammar Patterns

attachments for + task

machine/tool + with attachments

Usage Note

Usually refers to optional parts that expand what a machine can do. Distinguish from sense 7, which is about the fastening piece or point itself rather than an extra working part.

Common Mistakes

These are attachments of the mixer.
These are attachments for the mixer.
Use 'for' when you mean the machine an add-on part is designed to fit.

2. Separate files that go out together with a digital message.

2.nounB1
Definition

Separate files that go out together with a digital message.

Example

Please check the attachments before the meeting; the budget sheets are inside.

check the attachments in an email

Maeve forgot to open the attachments and missed the updated schedule.

Common collocations
  • email attachments
  • large attachments
  • open attachments
  • download attachments
  • attachments folder
Synonyms
  • attached files

    more explicit but less compact than attachments

  • enclosures

    more formal and common in business writing, especially for letters

Grammar Patterns

open/download the attachments

send attachments with an email

Usage Note

Most often used in email and messaging. It refers to the separate file itself, not to text written in the body of the message.

Common Mistakes

I put the report in the email text as an attachment.
I sent the report as an attachment.
An attachment is a separate file, not words typed into the message body.

3. Strong feelings of affection or loyalty that tie you to a person, place, group,

3.nounB2
Definition

Strong feelings of affection or loyalty that tie you to a person, place, group, or possession.

Example

After ten years abroad, Talia still felt deep attachments to her hometown.

attachments to a place

Children often form attachments to teachers who make them feel safe.

form attachments to people over time

Common collocations
  • deep attachments
  • family attachments
  • attachments to home
  • emotional attachments
Synonyms
  • bonds

    more general and can describe mutual closeness between people or groups

  • ties

    often stresses connection or obligation rather than warmth

  • affections

    focuses more on loving feeling than on lasting connection

Antonyms
  • detachment

    lack of emotional involvement or personal tie

Grammar Patterns

attachments to + person/place/group

form attachments to + person/place/group

Usage Note

Often appears with 'to' when you name what a person feels tied to. Distinguish from sense 4, which is the child-development term for caregiver bonds.

Common Mistakes

She has strong attachments with the village.
She has strong attachments to the village.
This sense normally takes 'to' before the person or place.

4. Close bonds young children build with caregivers for comfort and safety.

4.nounC1
Definition

Close bonds young children build with caregivers for comfort and safety.

Example

Healthy attachments help babies calm down when a parent picks them up.

attachments affect a child's sense of safety

The therapist asked whether the twins had secure attachments with both caregivers.

secure attachments in child-development talk

Common collocations
  • secure attachments
  • early attachments
  • attachments with caregivers
  • attachment theory
Synonyms
  • bonds

    broader and less technical than attachments in developmental psychology

  • connections

    more general and weaker; it does not imply the same theory-based meaning

Grammar Patterns

attachments with caregivers

attachments between infants and parents

Usage Note

This is a psychology term about early development. Unlike sense 3, it focuses specifically on bonds between a child and the people who care for that child.

5. Court orders or legal actions that seize wages, property, or a person who disobe

5.nounC1
Definition

Court orders or legal actions that seize wages, property, or a person who disobeys the court.

Example

The judge approved wage attachments against two owners who ignored the debt ruling.

wage attachments in debt cases

The company faced several attachments after refusing to pay its taxes.

Common collocations
  • wage attachments
  • property attachments
  • issue attachments
  • attachments against debtors
Synonyms
  • seizures

    broader and can describe many kinds of taking, not only court-authorized action

  • liens

    legal claim over property rather than the act of taking it

  • garnishments

    specifically deductions taken from wages by legal order

Grammar Patterns

wage attachments

attachments against + person/company

Usage Note

Most common in legal writing about debts, unpaid judgments, or contempt of court. It refers to the legal seizure itself, not to emotional or physical connections.

Common Mistakes

The court made an attachment on his salary.
The court placed an attachment on his salary.
In legal English, the usual verb is 'place' or 'approve', not 'make'.

6. Separate instances or methods of fastening one thing to another.

6.nounC1
Definition

Separate instances or methods of fastening one thing to another.

Example

Repeated trailer attachments to the truck wore down the hitch pin.

repeated attachments of one thing to another

The trainer demonstrated three rope attachments before the rescue drill began.

attachments as fastening methods in a procedure

Common collocations
  • repeated attachments
  • rope attachments
  • attachments of cells
  • cell attachments
  • trailer attachments
Synonyms
  • fastenings

    often names the securing method or the finished result, depending on context

  • fixings

    can mean either the act or the hardware, depending on context

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

attachments of + object to + object

repeated attachments of + object

Usage Note

This rare sense appears in technical or scientific discussion of how items are fixed in place. Distinguish it from sense 7, which names the finished connecting part or point.

7. The parts or points that hold one thing onto another.

7.nounB2
Definition

The parts or points that hold one thing onto another.

Example

The metal attachments under the shelf started to rust in the sea air.

attachments as physical joining parts

Tunde replaced the broken seat attachments before renting out the bicycles.

Common collocations
  • metal attachments
  • frame attachments
  • corner attachments
  • loose attachments
Synonyms
  • connectors

    more technical and often used for devices that join cables or parts

  • fasteners

    focuses on the hardware that secures something tightly

  • mounts

    often used when something is fixed onto a wall, base, or frame

Grammar Patterns

metal attachments

attachments under/on/to + object

Usage Note

This sense names the joining piece or point itself. Distinguish it from sense 1, where the attachment is an optional extra part added to expand a machine's function.

Common Mistakes

The shelf attachments are the same as shelf accessories.
The shelf attachments are the parts that fasten the shelf in place.
This sense is about connecting points or pieces, not optional add-ons.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These words all describe extra or related parts, but they do not point to the same kind of thing. 'Attachments' usually means parts you add to a machine or tool so it can do another job, such as a blender blade or a drill head. 'Accessories' is broader and often covers useful or decorative extras, including bags, straps, or car items. 'Add-ons' is more informal and often suggests optional extra features or extras sold separately. 'Components' is the most technical word and usually names the basic parts a machine is built from, not optional extras. A sewing machine may come with attachments, a phone may have accessories, software may offer add-ons, and an engine is made of components.

attachments ↗accessories ↗add-ons ↗components ↗

Etymology

GermanicFrenchEnglish

Attachments is the plural of attachment. Attachment was formed in English from attach plus the noun ending -ment. Attach came into English through French from an older Germanic root connected with fastening or fixing something in place. Because of that history, attachment first referred to the act or state of fastening, then grew to cover emotional bonds, legal seizure, and later modern uses such as machine parts and email files that are added to something else.

First known use

14th century

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1