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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
attract
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
arouse/generate/attract interest (=make people interested)
▪ This extraordinary story has aroused interest in many quarters.
attract an audience (=make people want to watch)
▪ The first show attracted a television audience of more than 2 million.
attract customers (=get more customers)
▪ The Internet is a great way to attract new customers.
attract investment
▪ The company is trying to attract investment from overseas.
attract migrants (=make migrants want to come to a place)
▪ The settlement attracted new migrants and it expanded quickly.
attract notice (=be noticed by other people)
▪ She didn’t want to attract notice, so she dressed very plainly.
attract publicity
▪ Two recommendations in the report have attracted publicity.
attract/draw a crowd
▪ The ceremony is expected to draw a crowd of more than 1,000.
attract/draw sb/sth like a magnet
▪ She drew men to her like a magnet.
attract/draw tourists
▪ They hope to change the image of the city and attract more tourists.
draw/attract/provoke criticism (=be criticized)
▪ The plan has drawn criticism from some groups.
win/gain/attract support
▪ Try to win the support of local shopkeepers.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
also
▪ She was also attracted by the opportunity to do advocacy whilst serving articles, which is only possible in a local authority.
▪ Pictures of Western women in tank tops, short-shorts, and tights also attracted the attention of local photographers.
▪ But it has been seen that Picasso was also attracted to tribal sculpture because he admired its conceptual quality.
▪ But she also attracted the ire of advocacy groups.
▪ It also attracts many from the middle or professional classes who have a commitment to social and economic justice.
▪ Every cave was silent, lest it also attract disaster.
▪ They also attracted the bulk of the immigrants.
▪ It also attracts criminals, mostly nonviolent, who drive to trail heads and parking areas to steal from cars and campsites.
always
▪ I suppose women are always attracted by men who do physical things such as motor racing.
▪ You were always attracted to regulation and sanity, kiddo.
▪ Gail and Tommy were always attracted to each other, but their love ripened slowly.
▪ The bail bond business had always attracted people who should have been in cells themselves.
▪ A man alone always attracts more attention than a couple together.
▪ Monorails have always attracted inventors because the structure can be lighter than that of conventional railways.
▪ The Grand National always attracts around 15 million.
▪ Although its enormous diamond deposits have always attracted some interest, this has been limited to private companies and individual entrepreneurs.
more
▪ Affected children inevitably attract more than their fair share of parental attention which can cause problems with unaffected siblings.
▪ The next day, the same show attracted more than 9, 000 listeners at the Hollywood Bowl.
▪ After all, New York State has attracted more foreign companies than any other state, from headquarters operations to manufacturing operations.
▪ Day and night, the three networks attracted more than 90 percent of the audience watching television.
▪ This in turn attracted more lenders into the market, and made borrowing more attractive.
▪ The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained relatively unscathed during the last six months, attracting more positive money flow.
▪ The 1992 Berlin Film Festival attracted more than 700 films from around the world in documentary and feature categories.
■ NOUN
attention
▪ Far from being eclipsed after his death in 1964, his work has attracted ever more attention.
▪ Pictures of Western women in tank tops, short-shorts, and tights also attracted the attention of local photographers.
▪ I set up a great screaming to attract his attention.
▪ The early date attracted a lot of attention from presidential candidates.
▪ A building that is obviously empty immediately attracts the attention of vandals.
▪ Any information regarding Foster has attracted extraordinary attention because he was a friend of Mrs Clinton and later committed suicide.
▪ It is still unusual enough to attract attention.
▪ The initiative has attracted national attention.
audience
▪ His televised trial attracted huge audiences.
▪ They attract an audience with varied interests and offer on-line access to the greatest number of users throughout the United States.
▪ The real challenge will be to attract an audience and advertisers against formidable rivals.
▪ This means that it usually attracts an attentive audience, which in turn means it provides a good environment for commercials.
▪ Why, for instance, are musicals assumed to be are the only way of attracting a popular audience?
▪ Skating may not have to rely much longer on such naked attempts at attracting audiences.
▪ Not for the first time Salisbury found it was easy to attract a large audience for a free show.
▪ The first show attracted a television audience of more than 2 million.
business
▪ And the move, if successful, would be part of a package used to attract new businesses to Darlington.
▪ Now Barnett made a second attempt to attract business.
▪ Because of their size these towns have been like magnets attracting more businesses and people.
▪ He spied a chance to develop the kind of workforce that would attract many different businesses to Tulsa-and keep them there.
▪ You were not the only one attracted by his business ventures.
▪ I believe the local economy can only change when the city makes significant efforts to attract high-technology businesses to the area.
capital
▪ It must therefore remain an open question as to whether the local economy is sufficiently robust to attract private sector capital.
▪ UDCs are designed to create the conditions and confidence necessary to attract private capital.
▪ The expanding region will attract capital for investment and workers will migrate from the less advantaged areas.
▪ By contrast MDC's land reclamation and infrastructural provisions have demonstrated a markedly weaker propensity for attracting private capital.
▪ Biotechs are among those expected to attract a whack of capital as the Baby Boomers age and the study of genomics advances.
criticism
▪ To be fair we have also been offered the chance of revising articles which attracted substantial justifiable criticism.
▪ Both policies attracted sharp Republican criticism.
▪ Tories are also conscious that the image of Unionism is such that any agreement would attract inevitable criticism from opposition parties.
▪ Hart has attracted some sharp criticism, especially from Otago and southern parts of the South Island.
▪ For instance, the use of purveyance began to attract criticism in the last fifteen years of the reign.
▪ The death sentences attracted widespread international criticism, and several government leaders made appeals for clemency.
▪ But, though they have never been overruled, they have attracted strong adverse criticism.
▪ This would attract even more criticism.
crowd
▪ Models were attracting crowds unseen for years.
▪ He must have suspected that a Madness gig would attract a football crowd.
▪ To attract crowds large enough to fill up the ornate space, big spectacles were de rigueur.
▪ Clubs did not compete with one another to attract larger crowds by reducing their prices.
▪ Cole attracted crowds to Fillmore clubs.
▪ It attracts huge crowds to exhibitions and fetches high prices at auctions in New York, London and Paris.
▪ If the band don't attract a sell-out crowd, the promoter's risk has been minimized.
customer
▪ So far, most discounters have stuck to selling food, though Aldi does use one-off promotions of clothing to attract customers.
▪ Managed-care companies that had kept prices low to attract new customers are under heavy pressure to increase earnings.
▪ And the outlets had to be revamped to attract more customers.
▪ Last year, it launched the Deluxe sandwiches, a higher-priced line meant to attract customers looking for better quality.
▪ Franchisees at the meeting worried about cash flow, and what it will take to attract more customers.
▪ These latter departments are not only profitable but they also attract customers.
▪ I say run ads in magazines that already attract the customer you are looking for and ask for catalog requests.
effort
▪ Mr Hunt made a good effort to attract business to the state, but his political reforms floundered.
▪ I believe the local economy can only change when the city makes significant efforts to attract high-technology businesses to the area.
▪ She had made every effort to attract him, but he had not given her his heart.
▪ New economic reforms were put on hold, although efforts to attract foreign investment and push forward with the modernization drive continued.
▪ Pat Cash and Dave Wheaton have also agreed to play and efforts are continuing to attract other leading players.
industry
▪ This would attract industry and commerce, and hence bring about the creation of jobs.
▪ The dams etc may also have been designed to attract industry and so benefit the country in the long term.
▪ Among these, the most prominent is the emphasis cities have placed on programs to develop or attract high-technology industries.
▪ Several government and local authority funded regeneration programmes have attracted retail and other industries to the area.
▪ Workers were attracted to these industries and to the docks and so the city grew rapidly.
▪ But Lord Exeter also saw to it that Stamford should never attract any industry.
▪ Rather, cities needed to be revitalised through investment in infrastructure and facilities that would attract the growing service industries.
interest
▪ Similarly the draw will attract as much interest for those it keeps apart as those it brings together.
▪ Barnett Banks Inc. is still attracting the interest of analysts.
▪ The system was established in 1971, and has attracted the interest of many countries.
▪ Yet even if Frankenstein had never been invented, Mary Shelley would continue to attract interest as the favoured child of romanticism.
▪ Paintings by Bell and Grant attracted renewed interest.
▪ This area is one that also attracts the interest of political scientists.
▪ Analogously, large loans attract a lower interest rate than small loans because of the administrative economies of scale.
investment
▪ It hopes to attract foreign investment and technology by liberalising and privatising the industry and encouraging joint ventures.
▪ If it works, it will attract foreign investment.
▪ The expanding region will attract capital for investment and workers will migrate from the less advantaged areas.
▪ The aim, therefore, was to attract substantial foreign investment.
▪ In a competitive environment, Bristol is already well-positioned to attract new investment funds.
▪ Belfast is attracting significant new private investment.
investor
▪ Note that eurobonds are unlikely to attract tax exempt investors such as pension funds, given the lower yield associated with bearer status.
▪ Their steady, reliable earnings growth attracts investors primarily when the economy is growing slowly or not at all.
▪ I was aware that building societies are in the habit of launching new products from time to time, primarily to attract new investors.
▪ To attract new investors and to dodge new regulations, the market became ever more arcane and complex.
▪ Acres of empty office space should attract investors.
▪ Also, utility stocks with their ample dividend yields tend to attract investor attention when rates are low elsewhere.
▪ Set up to provide money for growing companies, the stockmarket failed to attract investors.
▪ Persistent talk of takeovers attracted investors into the banking industry in the last year.
kind
▪ Another problem was that the show business element attracted a different kind of spectator.
▪ Such trophies attract the kind of devotion from supporters once accorded to regalia and the furnishing of shrines.
▪ It was inappropriate of me but I have always been attracted to that kind of danger.
▪ The weather, too, attracts a different kind of tourist.
▪ Frontier areas with low population densities attract particular kinds of exploitation of natural resources.
▪ The Imperial court itself supports a flourishing economy which naturally attracts all kinds of people.
▪ Yet it is at least arguable that different kinds of people are attracted into different kinds of subjects.
lot
▪ This aluminium sea kayak trolley, to be imported by North Shore, attracted a lot of interest at Crystal Palace.
▪ The early date attracted a lot of attention from presidential candidates.
▪ Remediation solutions Bioremediation is currently attracting a lot of attention as a remedial technique.
▪ That attracted lots of attention throughout that nationwide organization.
▪ It's the pick of the ties although the game between holders East Belfast and Killyleagh will attract a lot of attention.
▪ The Fox sisters attracted a lot of attention.
▪ Between this and stories on Burke of the Somme, Chant's death attracted a lot of column inches.
▪ Complexity research has attracted a lot of attention, but the field remains contentious.
member
▪ But there may be parliamentary unrest, as other parties try to attract new members.
▪ It had failed to meet the demand for family accommodation, and cheap holiday alternatives were attracting young members elsewhere.
▪ Mr Kinnock's compromise would have created one society, with a national executive seat if it attracted more then 3,000 members.
▪ In order to stimulate local interest and to attract more members, a revision of the constitution allowed the formation of Regional Councils.
▪ Held in Dunfermline, Aberdeen, and Glasgow, they attracted 60 members of staff from 50 piloting centres.
▪ We need to attract and retain members and that can be done with information which is very powerful.
▪ He sees the union merger, combining massive resources, as a way of attracting more members.
▪ During the year staff attracted 201 new members.
number
▪ The disproportionate population of samurai attracted vast numbers of retailers, craftsmen and servants to service the large and wealthy consumer market.
▪ However, such schools do seem to attract a large number of religious families.
▪ The new orders of the late eleventh and twelfth centuries attracted ever increasing numbers of recruits.
▪ I found the protozoan attracted in large numbers to slate panels we deliberately left at vents for one year and then recovered.
▪ In addition to a number of internationally recognised jazz musicians the Festival attracts a number of artists and attractions from around the region.
▪ Surely the Services must attract a large number of duty-conscious people?
▪ Another service attracting a growing number of subscribers is Commercial Payment Profile.
▪ The event attracted a record number of passengers who enjoyed an intensive steam train service and additional vintage train service.
opposite
▪ You said it yourself earlier, that opposites attract.
people
▪ Both seem to have attracted around 30 people.
▪ It is designed to halt vote-buying and corruption, attract better people to government and strengthen protection of human and civil rights.
▪ Alliance councillor Michael Healy is attacking proposals for a centre which, it is hoped, will attract 7,000 people a week.
▪ The bail bond business had always attracted people who should have been in cells themselves.
▪ Private finance is unlikely to be attracted to areas where people have little money to spend.
▪ In recent years, Hillcrest has become a center for festivals attracting people from throughout the region.
▪ The exhibition attracted 217 people in the first week.
▪ I should imagine that the police force attracts people who have got particular hang-ups about race.
student
▪ And we will allow them to attract older students as well.
▪ Because the school is located just west of Downtown, it attracts an ethnically diverse student population.
▪ Some of the worst massacres by paramilitaries have been in towns where the university expects to attract students.
▪ Schools that excel and attract more students rarely grow or clone themselves.
▪ In this context, the failure to attract overseas students is seen as a dramatic failure.
▪ The most needed fields, social service and nursing, have attracted pitifully few students.
▪ Several modules are specifically designed to attract students from different areas of the Course.
▪ In addition, school-to-work initiatives designed for narrowly defined occupations or industries may fail to attract students.
support
▪ Compromises would not attract the support of the key interest groups in either and would be impossible to implement.
▪ For Republicans running in blue-collar districts, where raising the wage attracts support, the argument hurts.
▪ Kostunica had been on the political scene for years and had never attracted such support.
▪ It was also to attract increasing support from youth and students.
▪ The idea of socialism, so passionately affirmed by the Bennite multitudes, attracted less and less support amongst the population at large.
▪ However, the Soviet initiative attracted only marginal support from the states in the region.
▪ Mr Smith hopes that his campaign will attract the support of all organisations for the elderly or those on low incomes.
visitor
▪ Open only two months, the centre has already attracted more than 20,000 visitors.
▪ The result is an on-line meeting place that attracts visitors from all over the world.
▪ Read in studio Stone circles like Stonehenge attract thousands of visitors each year drawn by the excitement of the ancient and unknown.
▪ Today there is much within Belfast to attract visitors and citizens alike.
▪ In 1991 the event attracted over 18,000 visitors.
▪ Some places have even seen the publicity over new fees attracting extra visitors.
■ VERB
begin
▪ Inevitably this began to attract the foreign fleets back to the Klondyke trade.
▪ Forty years ago it began to attract squatters who could not find cheap housing elsewhere.
▪ For instance, the use of purveyance began to attract criticism in the last fifteen years of the reign.
▪ McLaren first began attracting attention about six years ago when he started contesting boundary lines in the development where he lives.
▪ Healthy Foods for a Healthy Future Foods that confer health have begun to attract a range of names in recent years.
▪ Later a noted modern dancer, actress and teacher, de Lavallade began early on to attract attention.
▪ When the movement began they were attracted by a desire to attain certain goals.
▪ Perversely, the existing system has begun to attract support, from three sources.
continue
▪ Yet even if Frankenstein had never been invented, Mary Shelley would continue to attract interest as the favoured child of romanticism.
▪ Of critical importance is that the studio continues to attract gifted animators.
▪ Meanwhile for marketing we continue to attract growing numbers of candidates.
▪ Pat Cash and Dave Wheaton have also agreed to play and efforts are continuing to attract other leading players.
▪ Such a project continues to attract some philosophers.
▪ The game continues to attract young teenagers whose education is disrupted by the tantalising prospect that they will become professional players.
▪ Unconventional sports, such as hang-gliding and hot-air ballooning, also continue to attract large numbers of students.
expect
▪ Some of the worst massacres by paramilitaries have been in towns where the university expects to attract students.
▪ Only six of the 10 tracts are expected to attract strong attention, mostly in the eastern part of the country.
▪ Where such factors are present one would expect the crime to attract not only profit-maximising individuals but also profit-maximising firms.
▪ There's also clogging at the event, which is expected to attract 3,000 dancers from across the country.
▪ The Sainsbury petition was expected to attract about 2,500 signatures.
▪ It expects to attract 2,000 attendees.
▪ The showpiece projects are the Concord Centre and Glass City expected to attract two million visitors and 2,000 jobs.
▪ Durán, projecting the image of elder statesman, was expected to attract votes from the left in the run-off election.
fail
▪ Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who dropped out after failing to attract enough money or support.
▪ There is already evidence to show knitwear firms are failing to attract sufficient numbers of young people.
▪ In addition, school-to-work initiatives designed for narrowly defined occupations or industries may fail to attract students.
▪ The Mir space station has failed to attract enough would-be visitors to save itself from destruction.
▪ But since then the group has failed to attract the number of disaffected provisionals it had hoped.
▪ Even if I failed to attract Neil's attention, I would probably be able to cross quite soon.
▪ Because there was still enough runway space to go around, they failed to attract the airlines.
hope
▪ The city hopes to attract around 3.5 million visitors annually, but last year's figures were little short of disastrous.
▪ I shone a torch into the water hoping to attract a curious dorado to the light.
▪ They hope the fund will attract further grants and donations.
▪ It hopes to attract foreign investment and technology by liberalising and privatising the industry and encouraging joint ventures.
▪ We hope to attract a new generation of collectors, make this place seem more accessible, less austere.
▪ It's launched a promotional campaign which it's hoped will attract more pupils.
▪ The lectures are named in his honour and organisers hope to attract big names in the future.
▪ Alliance councillor Michael Healy is attacking proposals for a centre which, it is hoped, will attract 7,000 people a week.
try
▪ Kick the front leg vigorously as if you were trying to attract a shark!
▪ De Klerk also tried to attract a wider constituency to his own party.
▪ But there may be parliamentary unrest, as other parties try to attract new members.
▪ Last year, we were trying to attract Holy Bull to the MassCap with the bonus and look what happened to him.
▪ I tried everything to attract Howard's attention.
▪ He then chases her off and tries to attract other females.
▪ Charles Cockell will be trying to attract them.
▪ By means of his smart plumage and his simple song, the male tries to attract a female to his nest site.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
attract/catch/get sb's attention
opposites attract
▪ You said it yourself earlier, that opposites attract.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Disney World attracts millions of tourists each year.
▪ Have the children see whether the magnet will attract paper clips, coins etc.
▪ Politicians still risk having affairs, knowing the massive media attention they attract.
▪ The drug's low price attracts school- and college-age users.
▪ The food mixture will attract a variety of wild songbirds.
▪ The industry needs to focus on what attracts customers.
▪ The special low rent is designed to attract new businesses to the area.
▪ What attracts me to the job is the salary and the possibility of foreign travel.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Each has attracted his or her share of supporters who could also see the light once it was pointed out to them.
▪ I must have cried out, for I attracted the attention of my husband.
▪ Run by qualified volunteers, the club is keen to attract people of all ages and all abilities.
▪ Souvenir stands and pawnshops and a strip club attract those tired of spending their incomes one quarter at a time.
▪ The tempo is usually fast since some programmers believe that fast-paced news programs attract younger audiences.
▪ Throughout his life Charles attracted the young and ambitious to his court.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Attract

Attract \At*tract"\, n. Attraction. [Obs.]
--Hudibras.

Attract

Attract \At*tract"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Attracted; p. pr. & vb. n. Attracting.] [L. attractus, p. p. of attrahere; ad + trahere to draw. See Trace, v. t.]

  1. To draw to, or cause to tend to; esp. to cause to approach, adhere, or combine; or to cause to resist divulsion, separation, or decomposition.

    All bodies and all parts of bodies mutually attract themselves and one another.
    --Derham.

  2. To draw by influence of a moral or emotional kind; to engage or fix, as the mind, attention, etc.; to invite or allure; as, to attract admirers.

    Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze.
    --Milton.

    Syn: To draw; allure; invite; entice; influence.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
attract

early 15c., from Latin attractus, past participle of attrahere "to draw, pull; to attract," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + trahere "draw" (see tract (n.1)).\n

\nOriginally a medical term for the body's tendency to absorb fluids, nourishment, etc., or for a poultice treatment to "draw out" diseased matter (1560s). Of the ability of people or animals to draw others to them, it is attested from 1560s; of physical forces (magnetism, etc.), from c.1600 (implied in attraction). Related: Attracted; attracting.\n

Wiktionary
attract

vb. To pull toward without touching.

WordNet
attract
  1. v. direct toward itself or oneself by means of some psychological power or physical attributes; "Her good looks attract the stares of many men"; "The ad pulled in many potential customers"; "This pianist pulls huge crowds"; "The store owner was happy that the ad drew in many new customers" [syn: pull, pull in, draw, draw in] [ant: repel]

  2. exert a force on (a body) causing it to approach or prevent it from moving away; "the gravitational pull of a planet attracts other bodies"

  3. be attractive to; "The idea of a vacation appeals to me"; "The beautiful garden attracted many people" [syn: appeal] [ant: repel]

Wikipedia
Attract

Attract may refer to:

  • Attractiveness
  • Attract mode, in video gaming

Usage examples of "attract".

There are countless things in the mind, and its least parts are associated and conjoined in accord with affections or as one thing attracts another.

Rudy shivered, at once repelled and curiously attracted, a fear that was oddly like acrophobia coming over him.

Clovis attracted the respect and allegiance of the national confederacy.

A bacterium, moving blindly through a cloud of hovering antibodies, seemed to attract them, to pull them in to itself.

In the bathroom mirror she appraised her looks, wondering if she could attract another husband at her age.

The smell of aniseed would have attracted the other hounds as much as it did Sekhmet, but, of course, the answer is that all the Pharaohs were shut safely away, so Sekhmet was the only dog available.

It was precisely their foreign, un-Muscovite spirit that attracted the young boyars and scribes to these stories.

In 1773 the Pugachev Rebellion found him on leave of absence in Kazan, where he attracted the attention of persons in power by writing for the nobility of the province an address with expressions of loyalty to the Empress.

The poem contained some passages expressive of liberal sentiment, and these, much rather than its obscenity, attracted the attention of the police.

His early verses attracted the attention of Stankevich, the famous head of the idealist circle, who introduced Koltsov to his Moscow friends.

His political articles and memoranda written in the revolutionary year 1848 attracted official attention.

Their fun, which was what attracted the reader above all, is simple and unadulterated.

Pisemsky was attracted by their enthusiasm for originality and raciness.

Tolstoy began to be attracted by the recent past of the Russian society, and planned a novel on the subject of the Decembrists.

The rapid growth of capitalistic enterprises attracted numerous workers, and the number of engineers was many times multiplied.