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

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

It invited people who want to support the latest acquisition to contact the charity directly.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

The company had been targeting a midyear debt sale before a group of states sued to block the Warner Bros. merger, putting the acquisition in jeopardy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

The brothers behind suburban New York tire retailer Mavis spent decades gobbling up smaller rivals culminating in their biggest deal, the acquisition of the best-known name in repairs: Midas.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026

Ellison, currently the chairman and chief executive of Paramount, is aiming to finalize the acquisition of Warner Bros.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

He makes the acquisition of knowledge feel like a secret, beautiful thing, and an ancient thing.

From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth

The European firm plans to invest hundreds of millions of euros in similar acquisitions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

BofA Securities initiates coverage on IonQ at Buy, saying the company’s recent acquisitions are shaping it into a diversified play on quantum technology.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

Among the players who won’t be on the field for the Chargers on Sunday will be tight ends David Njoku and Charlie Kolar, both significant offseason acquisitions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026

Doustdar took charge of the company last year and has overseen an initial flurry of acquisitions and a boardroom shakeup while announcing plans to slash 9,000 jobs under a new restructuring effort.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 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