acquire
Americanverb (used with object)
-
acquires,
present (3rd person singular)
-
acquired,
past participle, past
-
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
-
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
-
acquirementnoun
-
acquirernoun
-
preacquireverb
-
reacquireverb (used with object)
-
acquirableadjective
-
self-acquiredadjective
-
unacquirableadjective
-
unacquiredadjective
-
well-acquiredadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
acquiresimple
-
acquiressimple
-
have acquiredperfect
-
has acquiredperfect
-
am acquiringprogressive
-
are acquiringprogressive
-
is acquiringprogressive
-
have been acquiringperfect progressive
-
has been acquiringperfect progressive
Past
-
acquiredsimple
-
had acquiredperfect
-
was acquiringprogressive
-
were acquiringprogressive
-
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
List 4
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Frindle
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Boy: Tales of Childhood
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
On the surface, “this sounds like a smart strategy,” said Gu, because companies can treat their richly valued shares as an opportunity “to acquire some real assets.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
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, Mondelez agreed to acquire Undercover Snacks, a line of quinoa crisp snacks, for undisclosed terms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
To acquire two towns in Lombardy, they had made the King master of two-thirds of Italy.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
Thrive Holdings, a Kushner-led firm that acquires older businesses and infuses them with artificial intelligence, 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 ● Oct. 29, 2026
If SpaceX acquires Tesla, he will likely stay in control.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
Goldman Sachs sees opportunity and acquires ETF company Neos.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
If Paramount Skydance acquires Warner Bros., production will likely shift to the Warner Bros. lot, with Paramount leased or sold.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
It radios all the scientific information it acquires back to Earth.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Analysts at Gartner predict by 2030, 80% of neocloud firms will "cease independent operations", while Forrester's experts expect at least three of them to be imminently acquired "as finances get shaky".
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
Campbell’s had newly acquired Pepperidge Farm and began promoting Goldfish.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
Bayer has spent more than $10 billion settling thousands of cases linked to glyphosate-based herbicides since it acquired the US agrichemical group Monsanto, developer of the popular Roundup weedkiller, in 2018.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
Amount that home-security company ADT has agreed to be acquired for, in cash, by Thrive Holdings, an investment vehicle formed by Josh Kushner’s venture-capital firm, Thrive Capital.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
She had fled to Athens when she left Corinth in her winged car, and she had acquired great influence over Aegeus, which she did not want disturbed by the appearance of a son.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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
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
That typically means offloading talent rather than acquiring it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
In the history of the OASIS, there was no record of any avatar ever acquiring an extra life.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
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.
