acquire
Americanverb (used with object)
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acquires,
present (3rd person singular)
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acquired,
past participle, past
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acquiring
present participle
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to come into possession or ownership of; get as one's own.
to acquire property.
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to gain for oneself through one's actions or efforts.
to acquire learning.
- Synonyms:
- appropriate, attain, earn, win
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Linguistics. to achieve native or nativelike command of (a language or a linguistic rule or element).
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Military. to locate and track (a moving target) with a detector, as radar.
verb
Usage
What does acquire mean? Acquire most commonly means to get, buy, or learn. Acquire has a lot of meanings that vary with context. Most of them refer to the act of getting something permanently. It has more specific meanings in linguistics and in the context of the military. It’s easy to misspell acquire as aquire, so don’t forget the c. Example: When the merger is complete, our company will have acquired its largest competitor.
Synonym Usage
See get.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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acquirabilitynoun
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acquirementnoun
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acquirernoun
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preacquireverb
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reacquireverb (used with object)
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acquirableadjective
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self-acquiredadjective
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unacquirableadjective
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unacquiredadjective
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well-acquiredadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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acquiresimple
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acquiressimple
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have acquiredperfect
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has acquiredperfect
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am acquiringprogressive
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are acquiringprogressive
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is acquiringprogressive
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have been acquiringperfect progressive
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has been acquiringperfect progressive
Past
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acquiredsimple
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had acquiredperfect
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was acquiringprogressive
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were acquiringprogressive
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had been acquiringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of acquire
First recorded in 1400–50; from Latin acquīrere “to add to one's possessions, acquire” ( ac- ac- + -quīrere, combining form of quaerere “to search for, obtain”); replacing late Middle English aquere, from Middle French aquerre, from Latin, as above
Explanation
To acquire means to get or come to own something. You acquire an education by your own effort. You acquire a painting by paying for it or by someone giving it to you. You acquire a sense of calm in crisis through experience. The list of things you can acquire includes: an object, a trait, a skill, or an ability. An acquired taste is something that people usually don't like when they first experience it, but later they come to enjoy it, such as raw clams or marmite. The verb acquire was borrowed from Latin acquīrere "to add to," from the prefix ad- "at, toward" plus quaerere "to seek, get."
Vocabulary lists containing acquire
List 4
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Frindle
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Boy: Tales of Childhood
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Their recipes acquire a little micro-mythology in your kitchen.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
Investors and banking industry executives have privately speculated the bank could be poised to acquire a smaller lender.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
The streamer did acquire the rights to the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2022.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
Amount that Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein spent to acquire the Baltimore Orioles, according to his new book, ‘Inside the Owner’s Box.’
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Years later I would acquire a horse who had mistakenly killed his owner, a young woman who was checking his back feet, when a dog came too close.
From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen
“Children of the Wolves” acquires even greater depth when an insightful Turkish police detective joins the hunt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
"The charge a droplet acquires as it slides depends heavily on the specific surface -- we measured differences of up to a factor of ten," explains Zhongyuan Ni, the study's first author.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026
Ms. Howard’s voice is convincing in many emotional modes, and acquires extra power because she is unconcerned with perfection.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Goldman Sachs sees opportunity and acquires ETF company Neos.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
I don’t refer merely to the glaring fact that the minister eventually acquires houses and Cadillacs while the faithful continue to scrub floors and drop their dimes and quarters and dollars into the plate.
From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
Campbell’s acquired Rao’s, and there are armies of people online who remain convinced that something must have changed, despite Rao’s FAQ explicitly assuring worried customers that the company won’t “touch the sauce.”
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
Genetic testing showed that his MAL gene was normal, supporting the conclusion that his antibody was acquired rather than caused by the rare inherited MAL deficiency.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
It was acquired by Terex Corporation in 1999 but continued to retain its roots in County Tyrone.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
That agreement comes only a year after Walter acquired the stake.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The new linguistic skills that modern Sapiens acquired about seventy millennia ago enabled them to gossip for hours on end.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Once people love a jar rather than merely use it, corporate ownership can start to feel less like a business transaction than someone acquiring custody of a family recipe.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
So, the Dodgers made a splash at the trade deadline, acquiring two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Storiel Museum and Art Gallery have expressed an interest in acquiring the treasure find, following its independent valuation by the Treasure Valuation Committee.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
It added back $82 million of amortization and impairment expense, plus $51 million of “reorganization-related expense,” such as severance payments to employees Bending Spoons fired after acquiring their companies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Ever since acquiring Holton’s drugstore, he had been interested in the undeveloped land across the street.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
