Trivia Time

Which company's acquisition of YouTube in 2006 cost about $1.65 billion in stock?

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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

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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

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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

The latter assumed its final hydra-esque form this month, when Paramount Skydance closed its acquisition of Warner Bros.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

The United Steelworkers union said that although it recognizes the stresses on Canada’s steel industry, difficult market conditions can’t automatically erase commitments that were central to the approval of a major foreign acquisition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Integration costs of $36 million from the acquisition of FirstBank dented PNC’s profit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Intuit said its latest acquisition could expand its businesses into new industries.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

Each step, each acquisition, no matter how small, involves deliberation, consultation with Bengali friends.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

The company also upgraded its target for free cash flow excluding net mergers and acquisitions to more than 3.2 billion euros, up from approximately 3 billion euros previously.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

The firm is targeting acquisitions of U.S. companies with enterprise values ranging from $200 million to $1 billion, Mendez said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Strategic acquirers and tech giants have deployed $17.4 billion across 92 acquisitions through the third quarter, putting M&A activity on track for its busiest year on record.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

Before becoming an MP, he ran an international mergers and acquisitions advisory firm.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

He is now an associate in mergers and acquisitions at Milbank Tweed in New York, where, interestingly, Hugh Corcoran was just made partner.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

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Related Words

• addition
• gain
• procurement
• purchase
• recovery

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