Attic Meaning
/ˈætɪk/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe space, often unfinished and with sloped walls, directly below the roof in the uppermost part of a house or other building, generally used for storage or habitation.
nounA storey or a parapet above the cornice of a classical façade, often decorated.
Sentence Examples
Let's clear out the attic.
He says he must get rid of the mice that are in the attic.
The idea evolved from a drawing I discovered in the attic.
CEFR Practice Quiz
We stored old photo albums and Christmas decorations in the dusty ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We found some old family letters hidden in a box in the dark ____.
Word Origin & History
From the practice of decorating the top storey of building facades in the Attic architectural style. From French attique, from Latin atticus, from Ancient Greek Ἀττικός (Attikós).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"In my Wonderland, I'm back on my Alice
Back in my palace, I'm fly like Aladdin
Serving my fans all my dope, 'cause they addicts
Haters mad 'cause I'm on top like an attic
And if it's beef then we're shooting sporadic
Game is like Disney, my words are like magic"
— 2018, “Cash Maniac”, performed by Denzel Curry:
"[…] was a diminutive, forked-radish sort of a young man, very fashionably attired, or, as he would say, kiddily togg'd; and, though it was scarcely noon, he was rather queer in the attic; that is to say, not exactly sober."
— 1875, John Wight, Mornings at Bow Street, page 105:
"[…] Aeschylus here, as elsewhere, made himself the legislator of all Attic tragedy."
— 1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “I. Introduction”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 31:
", The distinction between the Attic and the Asiatic schools takes us back to antiquity. The former were regarded as concise and healthy, the latter as empty and inflated: […]"
— 1921, Quintilian, “Chapter X: Determination of Style”, in Harold Edgeworth Butler, transl., Instiutio Oratoria, page 611:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
We stored old photo albums and Christmas decorations in the dusty ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We found some old family letters hidden in a box in the dark ____.