attorney

noun

Simple meaning

a lawyer who gives legal advice and represents people

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhturnee

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

əˈtɝni

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

us
A lawyer; one who advises or represents others in legal matters as a profession.
law
A professional person authorized to practice law; conducts lawsuits or gives legal advice
law
An agent or representative authorized to act on someone else's behalf in accordance with that person's instructions.
A prosecutor.
Clusia spp.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: A2 · Elementary
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A lawyer; one who advises or represents others in legal matters as a profession.

Used this way, attorney is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Specialist/technical
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Specialized
Connotation: Clinical and technical
Usage feel: Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

Law/legal
Government/politics
Academic writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use attorney

“She contacted an attorney to help with the legal documents.”noun

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

defense attorneyprosecuting attorneystate attorneycity attorneyassistant attorney

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

attorney-client privilegenounCompound term
The right of a lawyer to refuse to divulge confidential information from his client.
attorney-client relationnounCompound term
The responsibility of a lawyer to act in the best interests of the client.
attorney generalnounCompound term
The chief law officer of a country or state.
attorney general of the united statesnounCompound term
The position of the head of the Justice Department and the chief law enforcement officer of the United States.
defense attorneynounCompound term
The lawyer representing the defendant.
district attorneynounCompound term
An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: lawyer

lawyer

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.