attorney

C1 Topic:People & Society

US /əˈtɜɹni/ UK /əˈtɜːni/ See IPA manual

Freq #2036

Meanings

1

noun
A lawyer; someone who advises people on legal matters and represents them in court.

She hired an attorney to handle the lawsuit.
2

noun
A person legally authorized to act on someone else's behalf.

He gave his daughter power of attorney to manage his finances.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a lawyer; someone who... lawyer advocate counsel

2 noun · a person legally authorized... agent proxy representative

Word family

Forms attorneys

Derived forms attorney-at-lawattorney-generalattorney-in-factattorneydomattorneyismattorneyshipcartooneysubattorney

Related forms mouthpiece spokesperson

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

district attorney
a public official who prosecutes criminal cases within a particular legal district

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Middle English attourne, from Old French atorné, past participle of atorner, atourner, aturner (“to attorn”), in the sense of "one appointed or constituted".

attourne Middle English atorné Old French

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# attorney

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /əˈtɜɹni/
**IPA (UK):** /əˈtɜːni/
**Frequency rank:** 2036

## Meanings
1. A lawyer; someone who advises people on legal matters and represents them in court.
2. A person legally authorized to act on someone else's behalf.

## Examples
- She hired an attorney to handle the lawsuit.
- He gave his daughter power of attorney to manage his finances.

## Derived Forms
- attorney-at-law
- attorney-general
- attorney-in-fact
- attorneydom
- attorneyism
- attorneyship
- cartooney
- subattorney

## Related Forms
- mouthpiece
- spokesperson

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: attourne
- Root: atorné

## Etymology
From Middle English attourne, from Old French atorné, past participle of atorner, atourner, aturner (“to attorn”), in the sense of "one appointed or constituted".

## AI Etymology
Attorney is from Middle English attourne, from Old French atorné, past participle of atorner, atourner, aturner (“to attorn”), in the sense of "one appointed or constituted". Important recorded forms include attourne (Middle English) and atorné (Old French). Current senses include a lawyer; someone who advises people on legal matters and represents them in court and a person legally authorized to act on someone else's behalf. The wider family includes derived forms such as attorney-at-law, attorney-general, attorney-in-fact, attorneydom, and attorneyism and related words such as mouthpiece and spokesperson.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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