acquire
Americanverb (used with object)
-
acquires,
present (3rd person singular)
-
acquired,
past participle, past
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acquiring
present participle
-
to come into possession or ownership of; get as one's own.
to acquire property.
-
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).
-
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
-
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
-
have been acquiringperfect progressive
-
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
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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:
Marvell stock falls Monday after the company agrees to acquire Lumentum at a value of $115 billion.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
As retailers gather more information about their customers and acquire increasingly sophisticated pricing tools, shoppers risk knowing less about why they’re paying what they’re paying.
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026
Separately, the company said it agreed to acquire Undercover Snacks, a line of quinoa crisp snacks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
The popular delivery platform DoorDash is in talks to acquire rival Instacart in a deal that could be finalized this week, the Wall Street Journal reported.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
I wonder if I can muster up the energy to acquire another persona.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
Thrive Holdings, a Kushner-led firm that acquires older businesses and infuses them with AI, agreed to acquire ADT in a $7.6 billion all-cash deal with an enterprise value of $15.3 billion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
Paramount Skydance’s streaming chief Cindy Holland is exiting the studio, clearing the way for HBO Chairman Casey Bloys to claim a key role in the company once Paramount acquires Warner Bros.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 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
Like many other pseudosciences, numerology is ancient, and acquires some respectability from its religious associations.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
Because the partnerships acquired the central retail land long before the 2017 tax law passed, they couldn’t easily roll new capital gains into those specific parcels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
The National Gallery of Art acquired some of his collection in 2023 and he has donated other images to the exhibition.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026
Neville acquired a network of YouTube channels from United influencer Mark Goldbridge last summer, which has significantly increased the channel's coverage of the club.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Binance invested $500 million in X, then Twitter, back in 2022 as part of Musk’s takeover of the company, which was acquired by SpaceX earlier this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Weismann had proposed a radical alternative: perhaps hereditary information was contained exclusively in sperm and egg cells, with no direct mechanism for an acquired characteristic to be transmitted into sperm or eggs.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Were SpaceX to try acquiring a telecom company, it would likely push up Starlink Mobile’s time to market by about three to four years, Citi analyst Michael Rollins said in a note.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
Intel is acquiring software developer Classiq in a bid to help its quantum effort ‘mature into a mainstream computing business.’
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
The deal involves acquiring the assets for up to 83 million ringgit, with the final price depending on the number of fiber subscribers transferred.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
Over the past year, Musk has moved to consolidate his businesses, with SpaceX acquiring xAI and X, formerly Twitter, before going public this year.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
She screamed in protest against losing the king she had had such a hard time acquiring.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
