acquisition

[ ak-wuh-zish-uhn ]

noun

1. the act of acquiring or gaining possession:

   the acquisition of real estate.

2. something acquired; addition:

   public excitement about the museum's recent acquisitions.

3. the purchase of one business enterprise by another:

   the acquisition of a rival corporation;

   mergers and acquisitions.

4. Linguistics. the act or process of achieving mastery of a language or a linguistic rule or element:

   child language acquisition; second language acquisition.

acquisition

/ ˌækwɪˈzɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of acquiring or gaining possession
2. something acquired
3. a person or thing of special merit added to a group
4. astronautics the process of locating a spacecraft, satellite, etc, esp by radar, in order to gather tracking and telemetric information

Other Words From

• acqui·sition·al adjective
• ac·quis·i·tor [uh, -, kwiz, -i-ter], noun
• preac·qui·sition noun
• proac·qui·sition adjective
• reac·qui·sition noun
• super·acqui·sition noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of acquisition¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; Middle English adquisicioun, a(c)quisicion, from Latin acquīsītiōn-, stem of acquīsītiō, from acquīsīt(us) “acquired” (past participle of acquīrere; acquire ) + -iō -ion

Word History and Origins

Origin of acquisition¹

C14: from Latin acquīsītiōn-, from acquīrere to acquire

Example Sentences

The user fee on duck stamps goes exclusively to funding federal acquisition of wetlands as wildlife habitat.

From The Daily Beast

“EOTS is a poster child for one of the ills of the acquisition process,” the official said.

From The Daily Beast

ISIS had broadly advertised its acquisition of a broad range of U.S.-made weapons during its rampage across Iraq.

From The Daily Beast

Last year, the company raised funding at a $2 billion valuation and shot down a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook.

From The Daily Beast

Whoever pulled the trigger (so to speak) on this acquisition may have just been caught up in the moment.

From The Daily Beast

In brief, Chumru abused the English with such an air that he was regarded by the rebels as quite an acquisition.

From Project Gutenberg

It is skirted by houses and gardens and is a valuable acquisition to the town.

From Project Gutenberg

John Bones, lawyer, age twenty-six, was a recent acquisition to Coldriver village.

From Project Gutenberg

And his mind at least was happy in its new sense of expansion and acquisition, its increasing and developing powers.

From Project Gutenberg

It is when studies requiring abstruse thought are reached that the facility in acquisition of the savage races comes to an end.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• donation
• earnings
• gain
• profit
• return