Reach Meaning
/ɹiːt͡ʃ/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo extend, stretch, or thrust out (for example a limb or object held in the hand).
verbTo give to someone by stretching out a limb, especially the hand; to give with the hand; to pass to another person; to hand over.
Sentence Examples
I tried to reach you on the phone, but I was unable to get through.
Go straight ahead until you reach the church.
The shot was well beyond the reach of the goalkeeper.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She tried to ____ the book on the high shelf but it was too tall.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She stretched up on her toes to ____ the book on the top shelf of the library.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English rechen, from Old English rǣċan (“to reach”), from Proto-West Germanic *raikijan, from Proto-Germanic *raikijaną, from the Proto-Indo-European *Hreyǵ- (“to bind, reach”). Cognate with Dutch reiken, German reichen.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"When Svend Fælling had promised to do so, saying that he thought himself strong and active enough for the encounter, the Troll reached him a heavy iron bar, and bade him show his strength on that."
— 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 204:
"A few words, lovingly, encouragingly spoken failed to reach her heart."
— 1889, The Kindergarten-Primary Magazine, volume 1, page 119:
"Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"Thy desire […] leads to no excess / That reaches blame."
— 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
"Patent filings for neural networks grew at a rate of 46 percent from 2013 to 2016, reaching 6,506, the study found."
— 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2019:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She tried to ____ the book on the high shelf but it was too tall.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She stretched up on her toes to ____ the book on the top shelf of the library.