procure

American  

[proh-kyoor, pruh-] / proʊˈkjʊər, prə- /

verb (used with object)

• procures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• procured,
  past participle,  past
• procuring
  present participle

1. to obtain or get by care, effort, or the use of special means.

   to procure evidence.

   Synonyms:

   win, gain

   Antonyms:

   lose

2. to bring about, especially by unscrupulous and indirect means.

   to procure secret documents.

   Synonyms:

   contrive

3. to obtain (a person) for the purpose of prostitution.

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verb (used without object)

• procures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• procured,
  past participle,  past
• procuring
  present participle

1. to act as a procurer or pimp.

   Synonyms:

   pimp, pander

procure British  

/ prəˈkjʊə /

verb

1. (tr) to obtain or acquire; secure

2. to obtain (women or girls) to act as prostitutes

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Usage

What does procure mean? To procure something is to obtain or get it, especially through special means or extra effort. The word is especially used in the context of the formal, official process of purchasing and obtaining materials, supplies, or equipment, particularly in the context of business or government. The noun form procurement most commonly refers to this process. Many large companies and government agencies have a procurement department that handles the ordering and acquisition of supplies. Such a department is often simply referred to as procurement, as in You’ll have to ask procurement to order those materials. Procurement can also be used in a general way to refer to the act or process of procuring in any context. Example: It took me a few months to track it down, but I was able to procure that rare book for her birthday.

Synonym Usage

See get.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• procurance
  noun
• procurement
  noun
• procurable
  adjective
• self-procured
  adjective
• self-procuring
  adjective
• unprocured
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• procuring
  present
• procured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• procure
  simple
• procures
  simple
• have procured
  perfect
• has procured
  perfect
• am procuring
  progressive
• are procuring
  progressive
• is procuring
  progressive
• have been procuring
  perfect progressive
• has been procuring
  perfect progressive

Past

• procured
  simple
• had procured
  perfect
• was procuring
  progressive
• were procuring
  progressive
• had been procuring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will procure
  simple
• will have procured
  perfect
• will be procuring
  progressive
• will have been procuring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of procure

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English procuren, from Latin prōcūrāre “to take care of”; see pro- ¹, cure

Explanation

In prison movies, there's always a character who is able to procure all sorts of contraband from the inside — magazines, playing cards, special soap. If you procure something, you get it or bring it about by special effort. Procure's synonym obtain is a little formal, but less formal than procure itself. The noun procurement commonly refers to the obtaining of materials and supplies. Procure descends from Middle English procuren, from Old French procurer, "to take care of," from Latin prōcūrāre, formed from the prefix prō-, "for", plus cūrāre, "to care for."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

procure procures procured procuring

However, Israel's ministry of foreign affairs announced in May, external that it would procure another F-35 squadron.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

The deal also helped a nascent cloud provider, Lambda, secure a lucrative contract with Anthropic without needing to procure the data-center space on its own.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

California law already bans a practice known as capping, in which non-attorneys directly solicit or procure clients to sign up for lawsuits with a law firm.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

He announced that the U.S. is sanctioning more than 60 entities, individuals and vessels across the globe that enable Iran to procure technology, earn oil revenue and carry out cyber operations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

I relied on Wolfie to procure reading material for me and I fear that I took over his life, infringing on both his work and pleasure.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

China’s state-owned Yuntianhua Group, one of the country’s largest phosphate-fertilizer producers, depends on sulfur—the same globally traded raw material China procures from American companies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

In one biblical tale, Jesus procures a large catch of fish, and promises his disciples an abundance of followers when he commands them to be “fishers of men.”

From National Geographic ● Jul. 26, 2023

The government's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which procures the vaccine, has requested 5.5 million doses for delivery this year and the next, the company said.

From Reuters ● Aug. 18, 2022

And he maintained that had he known of the objections from CMAL- the government agency which owns and procures ships for CalMac - he would have pulled out.

From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2022

When Celia procures him a black-and-white-striped paper bag of popcorn, he insists he wants caramel as well, and will not eat it plain.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Tehran procured the images both before and after the attack.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

He asked them where they procured the redwood to renovate their shingle roof and the trio spent the rest of the morning excitedly discussing restoration techniques and comparing notes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

It also lends the sandwich the air of something procured from a real cute deli, perhaps one with handwritten menu boards and expensive sparkling water.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026

Monitoring Analytics, PJM’s independent market monitor, is calling for new data-center load to be removed from the capacity market and procured separately.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Some 14,700 tons of silver worth more than $300 million were procured from the depository on the understanding that every ounce would be returned after the war.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Tencent’s Hy large language model should improve rapidly after procuring large amount of computing power to train it, the analyst notes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Working with its partners, ESA was responsible for developing and qualifying the Ariane 5 adaptations needed for the Webb mission and for procuring the launch service from Arianespace.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026

Cady turns their lives into a trap of paranoia and, indeed, fear, while procuring plausible deniability to avoid consequences.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

A report prepared for Whitby councillors ahead of a debate on the issue in March cited "ethical and legal challenges" of procuring a new set of real whale bones.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

Calixte asked for nothing at all, though Lazlo knew she was procuring, with Tzara’s assistance, an array of resins with which to concoct sticking pastes to aid in her climbing.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Related Words

• buy up
• get hold of
• solicit