achieve
Americanverb (used with object)
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achieves,
present (3rd person singular)
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achieved,
past participle, past
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achieving
present participle
verb (used without object)
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achieves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
achieved,
past participle, past
-
achieving
present participle
verb
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to bring to a successful conclusion; accomplish; attain
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to gain as by hard work or effort
to achieve success
Synonym Usage
See do 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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achievernoun
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superachievernoun
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outachieveverb (used with object)
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achievableadjective
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preachievedadjective
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unachievableadjective
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unachievedadjective
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well-achievedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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achievesimple
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achievessimple
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have achievedperfect
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has achievedperfect
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am achievingprogressive
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are achievingprogressive
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is achievingprogressive
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have been achievingperfect progressive
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has been achievingperfect progressive
Past
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achievedsimple
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had achievedperfect
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was achievingprogressive
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were achievingprogressive
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had been achievingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of achieve
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English acheven, from Old French achever “to finish,” from phrase a chef “to (the) head,” i.e., “to conclusion”; see chief
Explanation
If you achieve something, you've reached a goal. Achievements aren't accidents. If you stumble upon a treasure chest, you haven't achieved something; however, achieving a promotion to become CEO is another story. If someone asks you to give an example of the word achieve, you can always reach for Shakespeare's much quoted remark from his play Twelfth Night. In Act II, Scene V, the character Malvolio says, ". . . some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." Pundits like to throw that quote around when talking about politicians. Of course, they usually disagree about if, when, and how the politician achieved greatness.
Vocabulary lists containing achieve
The AP English Exam: The Language of the Test
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Workshop 1, Part 1
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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:
“No matter how much military power we have, if our people are struggling and the country lacks financial circulation and economic growth, we will not achieve progress,” the parliamentary speaker said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
What is net zero and is the UK on track to achieve it?
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Although it has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, it is targeting only a modest 7-10 percent reduction in economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, compared to peak levels.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
"Our work indicates that we could use slightly slower initial shocks and still achieve full melting of the diamond in our NIF implosions," said Millot.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
But how did this flow of biological information achieve the observed complexity of living systems?
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Neil: Hopefully he helps the team progress and achieves Euro 2028 qualification.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
As the company achieves notable growth — sales more than doubled in the latest quarter — it’s also impressing Wall Street with its profit performance.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
His film is likable as heck but never quite achieves liftoff.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
If SpaceX achieves that goal, it could become the most powerful and cost effective launch vehicle ever built.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
He achieves his own authority, and that is unshakable.
From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
Our study shows what can be achieved by a traditional hay cutting approach combined with nature's brilliant spontaneity.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
He suffers from the two facts that he achieved unique fame for the surgery named for him and he didn’t strike out hitters, he finessed them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Shein first floated plans to go public in 2022, when it achieved its peak valuation of $100 billion in a private funding round.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
They sent qualifying times for entering the British Championships and, about five months later, Mark achieved them.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
It was nine p.m. on July 20, 1971, and Bobby Fischer had achieved what no one else had ever accomplished in chess: winning two grandmaster matches without drawing or losing a single game.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Nearly 9.8 million investors sought a piece of the company ahead of its debut, with fewer than one in 5,000 achieving success.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
“Honoring commitments that have already been made to the entertainment industry is an essential step in achieving that goal.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Simplifying the steering system was an important part of achieving that size while retaining propulsion based on photon recoil.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026
Then-CEO Hassabis founded the company in 2010 with the goal of achieving artificial general intelligence, or AGI — an AI system that matches or surpasses human capabilities.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
“But enough delay. Even greater things lie ahead, Reynard, much greater things, and we must waste no time achieving them.”
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
Definitions 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.
