What does attract mean?
To attract is to draw something—or someone—toward oneself, whether through physical force, emotional appeal, or sheer interest. The verb covers an unusually wide range of contexts: in everyday speech it describes how businesses attract customers, cities attract tourists, or people attract admirers; in science it names the fundamental pull between masses and charged particles, as when gravity attracts objects or opposite poles of a magnet attract each other. Because the idea of drawing things near underlies so much of human experience, attract appears constantly in marketing, journalism, science writing, and casual conversation alike. Its connotations are largely positive—an attractive quality invites rather than forces—and its opposites, repel and deter, mark the boundary of that positivity. Derived from the Latin trahere, meaning 'to pull,' the word shares deep roots with terms like extract and contract. Few verbs are at once so ordinary and so fundamental to describing how the world works.
To cause to move toward or be drawn to something; to exert an appealing or pulling force on.
"The new gallery is expected to attract visitors from across the region."
Almost always transitive; commonly followed by an object representing what is drawn in, as in 'attract attention' or 'attract crowds.'
(Of physical bodies or particles) to exert a mutual force that tends to bring them together.
"Oppositely charged particles attract one another."
Used chiefly in physics contexts, often with reciprocal subjects.
'Attract' carries the Latin word 'trahere'—to pull—inside it, making it a linguistic cousin of 'tractor,' which literally pulls plows through fields.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of attract
Attract comes from Latin attrahere, formed from ad- ('toward') plus trahere ('to pull, draw'), and entered English in the late Middle Ages via Latin learned usage. The same root trahere produced a whole family of English verbs, including extract, contract, retract, detract, and protract, as well as the noun tractor. Its noun form, attraction, became especially prominent after Newton's era, when 'attraction' named gravitational force in scientific writing.
Related word forms
How attract is actually used
Standard in both formal and informal registers. In physics contexts, 'attract' describes genuine forces such as gravity or magnetism; in everyday use it usually implies appeal or charm rather than literal force. It is almost always transitive and typically used in constructions like 'attract someone's attention.'
Easily confused with attract
Though they share an initial spelling and similar sound, 'attack' means to assault or criticize, while 'attract' means to draw toward or appeal to.