attorney

English

Alternative forms

• actorney (obsolete)

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".

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /əˈtɜː(ɹ)ni/
• (Philippines, nonstandard) IPA^(key): /ʔɐˈtoɹ.ni/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ni

Noun

attorney (plural attorneys or (obsolete) attornies)

1. (US) A lawyer; one who advises or represents others in legal matters as a profession.
   • 2013, James J. Gross, It's Splitsville: Surviving Your Divorce, page 240:

     If those attempts are unsuccessful, the attorney requesting the interrogatories may file a motion for sanctions with the court. The sanctions range from attorney fees to prohibiting the nonanswering party from presenting or defending claims.

   • 2017, Diane Medved, Don't Divorce:

     “Conflicting out” attorneys is the way a husband will make sure his wife doesn't hire any of the most aggressive lawyers in town.

2. (UK, dated, 19th century and earlier) One such who practised in the courts of the common law.

   Coordinate terms: proctor, solicitor

3. (UK, 20th century and later, rare, usually derogatory) A solicitor.
4. (obsolete outside set phrases) An agent or representative authorized to act on someone else's behalf.
5. (Philippines, sometimes US) An honorific given to lawyers and notaries public, or those holders by profession who also do other jobs. Usually capitalized or abbreviated as Atty.
6. Clusia spp.
7. A prosecutor

Usage notes

• In the "agent" sense, the word is now used to refer to nonlawyers usually only in fixed phrases such as attorney-in-fact or power of attorney.

Quotations

• 1809, “Counsel”, in The Monthly Mirror: Reflecting Men and Manners. With Strictures on Their Epitome, the Stage., volume VI, London: […] for the Proprietors, by Harding and Wright, […]; […] Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, […]; J[ohn] Murray, […]; A[rchibald] Constable and Co., Edinburgh;  […], page 212:

  It is not here meant that there ever was any positive rule or law, which prevented this freedom between barrister and attorney; but by the étiquette of the profession, the former preserved a dignity, that kept the latter at a distance—this is the barrier at present removed through the eagerness of barristers to procure business by flattering and courting attornies, who have the distribution of it.

Synonyms

• mouthpiece (slang)
• advocate

Derived terms

• attorney-at-law
• attorney at law
• attorney-client privilege
• attorneydom
• attorney general
• attorney-general
• attorney-in-fact
• attorneyism
• attorney of record
• attorney record
• attorneyship
• cartooney
• Crown attorney
• defense attorney
• district attorney
• letter of attorney
• patent attorney
• power of attorney (POA)
• prosecuting attorney
• Scotch attorney
• subattorney
• substitution of attorney
• trade mark attorney
• United States Attorney
• warrant of attorney

 

Descendants

• → Punjabi: ਅਟਾਰਨੀ (aṭārnī)
• → Welsh: atwrnai

Translations

lawyer

• Arabic: مُحَامٍ m (muḥāmin), مُحَامِيَة f (muḥāmiya)

  Egyptian Arabic: محامي m (muḥāmī)

• Armenian: փաստաբան (hy) (pʻastaban), իրավաբան (hy) (iravaban)
• Belarusian: юры́ст m (jurýst), юры́стка f (jurýstka), адвака́т m (advakát)
• Bulgarian: юри́ст (bg) m (juríst), юри́стка f (jurístka), адвока́т (bg) m (advokát), адвока́тка f (advokátka)
• Burmese: ရှေ့နေ (my) (hre.ne)
• Catalan: advocat (ca)
• Cherokee: ᏗᏘᏲᎯᎯ (ditiyohihi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 律師 / 律师 (zh) (lǜshī)

• Czech: právník (cs) m, právnička (cs) f, advokát (cs) m, advokátka (cs) f
• Dutch: advocaat (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: advokato (eo)
• Estonian: advokaat (et)
• Finnish: asianajaja (fi)
• French: juriste (fr) m or f, avocat (fr) m, avocate (fr) f
• Galician: avogado (gl) m, vogado m, leterado m
• Georgian: ადვოკატი (advoḳaṭi), ვექილი (vekili)
• German: Rechtsanwalt (de) m
• Greek: δικηγόρος (el) m or f (dikigóros), νομικός σύμβουλος m (nomikós sýmvoulos)

  Ancient: δικήγορος m (dikḗgoros), πρόδικος m (pródikos)

• Hebrew: פְּרַקְלִיט (he) m (praklít), פְּרַקְלִיטָה f (praklíta), עֹרֵךְ דִּין (he) m (orekh din), עֹרֶכֶת דִּין f (orekhet din)
• Hungarian: ügyvéd (hu)
• Icelandic: lögfræðingur (is) m
• Indonesian: jaksa (id)
• Irish: aturnae m
• Italian: avvocato (it)
• Japanese: 弁護士 (ja) (べんごし, bengoshi)
• Kabuverdianu: adivogádu
• Korean: 변호사(辯護士) (ko) (byeonhosa), 변호인(辯護人) (ko) (byeonhoin)
• Latin: cognitor m, causidicus m
• Occitan: avocat (oc)
• Plautdietsch: Aunwault m, Ofkot m
• Polish: prawnik (pl) m, adwokat (pl) m, adwokat (pl) m, adwokatka (pl) f
• Portuguese: advogado (pt) m, advogada (pt) f, causídico (pt) m
• Romanian: avocat (ro)
• Russian: юри́ст (ru) m (juríst), юри́стка (ru) f (jurístka), адвока́т (ru) m (advokát)
• Sardinian: avogadu m
• Serbo-Croatian: advokat (sh) m (Bosnia, Serbia), odvjetnik (sh) m (Croatia), odvjetnica (sh) f (Croatia)
• Slovak: právník m, právnička f, advokát (sk) m, advokátka f
• Slovene: odvetnik m, odvetnica f, advokat m, advokatka f
• Spanish: abogado (es) m, abogada (es) f, notario (es) m
• Swedish: advokat (sv) c
• Tagalog: manananggol, abogado (tl)
• Telugu: న్యాయవాది (te) (nyāyavādi)
• Turkish: avukat (tr)
• Ukrainian: юри́ст (uk) m (jurýst), юри́стка (uk) f (jurýstka), адвока́т (uk) m (advokát)
• Urdu: وکیل m or f (vakīl)
• Vietnamese: luật sư (vi)
• Yiddish: אַדוואָקאַט m (advokat)

agent/representative

• Armenian: հավատարմատար (hy) (havatarmatar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 代理 (zh) (dàilǐ)

• Finnish: oikeudenkäyntiasiamies, asiamies (fi)
• French: mandataire (fr)
• Georgian: რწმუნებული (rc̣munebuli), პროკურორი (ṗroḳurori)
• Greek: πληρεξούσιος (el) m (plirexoúsios)
• Icelandic: fulltrúi m, umboðsmaður m
• Norman: protchuleux m
• Russian: представи́тель (ru) m (predstavítelʹ), представи́тельница (ru) f (predstavítelʹnica), пове́ренный (ru) m (povérennyj), пове́ренная (ru) f (povérennaja)
• Ukrainian: представни́к (uk) (predstavnýk)

Verb

attorney (third-person singular simple present attorneys, present participle attorneying, simple past and past participle attorneyed)

1. (intransitive, rare) To work as a legal attorney.
2. (transitive, rare) To provide with a legal attorney.

References

• “attorney”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

attorney m (plural attorneys)

1. attorney

Further reading

• “attorney”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.