Reach

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /ɹiːt͡ʃ/

Definitions

1. To extend or stretch out physically to touch or grasp something ; to arrive at a destination or achieve a goal ; the distance or length covered by something
2. To stretch forward or upward in order to get or touch ; to succeed in arriving or attaining a point ; a measure of how far something extends or spreads
3. To extend one's arm or body in order to reach something ; to gain access or come to a place or condition ; the range or scope of influence or coverage

Etymology: Old English "rǣċan" meant "to reach," and it descends from a Proto-Germanic verb "*raikijaną" that was built on the same ancient root as words for binding and stretching. The idea behind it is physical: to reach something is to extend yourself or your hand until you make contact. English "reach" is therefore a close relative of German "reichen" and Dutch "reiken," which keep the same sense of stretching out toward something. The word's current meaning is one of its more surprising faces. Its Middle English form "rechen" carried the same sense of extending and attaining, and that core idea of stretching toward a goal survives in phrases like "reach a conclusion" or "out of reach." Few English speakers would connect the verb with the Japanese game of mahjong, but "reach" in that game is "riichi," a declaration that a player is one tile from a winning hand, borrowed from Chinese "lìzhí," meaning "stand straight." The coincidence in sound is unrelated to the English word's ancestry.

Synonyms: extend, stretch, arrive, grasp, attain

Antonyms: recede, withdraw, fail, miss, avoid