acquisition

American  

[ak-wuh-zish-uhn] / ˌæk wəˈzɪʃ ən /

noun

acquisitions plural

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.

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acquisition British  

/ 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

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Usage

What does acquisition mean? Acquisition most commonly means the process of obtaining something or the thing that is obtained. It is a noun form of the verb acquire, which most commonly means to get, buy, or learn. Acquire and acquisition have a lot of meanings that vary with context. Most of them refer to the act of getting something permanently. Acquisition is commonly used to refer to a company that is acquired by another company. It’s especially used this way in the phrase mergers and acquisitions. It’s also used in a specific way in the context of linguistics: language acquisition is the process of becoming fluent in a language. Example: The company announced plans for the acquisition of its largest competitor, raising concerns about it becoming a monopoly.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• acquisitor
  noun
• preacquisition
  noun
• reacquisition
  noun
• superacquisition
  noun
• acquisitional
  adjective
• proacquisition
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• acquisitions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of acquisition

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; see acquire) + -iō -ion

Explanation

An acquisition is something you acquire — a book, a skill or if you are a mogul, a company. It describes things you have purchased, things you have learned, or things you have gotten. Acquisition has a formal sense to it. We don't talk about our new jeans as our latest acquisition, unless we are the kind of person who refers to their latest copy of Vogue as their Bible. It is very commonly used to refer to paintings purchased by museums — in fact, large museums have acquisition departments.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acquisition acquisitions

District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín dealt the company a blow on Monday when she temporarily blocked Paramount from finalizing the acquisition until mid-August.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

The company expects the acquisition to help revenue growth and earnings per share in the first year after completion, which is anticipated in the second half subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

The elevator and escalator maker backed full-year guidance despite booking hefty costs related to its planned acquisition of rival TK Elevator, as well as restructuring measures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Here’s one example you can use, as recommended by Kevin Grunewald, a talent acquisition and recruiting professional with 10 years of experience:

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

Stanton warned Anthony not to be “dazzled by the promise of a sudden acquisition of numbers to our platforms with the wide-spread influence of the Church behind them.”

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

Investors seem to be worried about the scope of the company’s spending on infrastructure and acquisitions to support the development of generative artificial intelligence technology.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026

For this to happen, the analysts said they would want the company to prioritize organic growth as opposed to completing large acquisitions and to finalize the deals that were delayed in the previous quarter.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

Organic sales—which strip out the effects of acquisitions and currency swings—fell 2% in fiscal 2026, and the company is guiding to another year of flat-to-declining sales.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

Its fortunes climbed along with bitcoin prices, inspiring dozens of imitators that sell shares or borrow money to fund their bitcoin acquisitions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

I was interviewing for a paralegal position in the mergers and acquisitions department of a prestigious multi-national corporate law firm.

From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad

Related Words

• addition
• gain
• procurement
• purchase
• recovery