acquire
[uh-kwahyuh r]
- 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.
- 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.
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Origin of acquire
1400–50; < 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 < Middle French aquerre < Latin
Synonyms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
amass, earn, buy, get, win, gain, have, collect, promote, achieve, take, cop, land, secure, annex, gather, procure, wangle, snag, accessExamples from the Web for acquires
Contemporary Examples
Facebook, in effect, already is selling the businesses it acquires to others.
Wes acquires a hat, ring, heart stones, flowers, his baby blanket, a cloth angel, photographs.
And there is no question that once he acquires it, history shifts immediately.
Since the under-40s are less white than the over-65s, this battle between generations also acquires an unmistakable racial cast.
That imbalance will continue even if and when Iran acquires nuclear capability.
Historical Examples
Mix this gradually into half a pound of rice flour, and then stir it over a gentle fire till it acquires the thickness of jelly.
Bodhi tree, the tree under which Buddha acquires enlightenment.
The BuddhaPaul Carus
In Babylonia, moreover, it acquires the force of vassal-king.
The Religion of Babylonia and AssyriaMorris Jastrow
In this it is worked for half an hour, when it acquires a deep blue color.
TextilesWilliam H. Dooley
Yet the jest, like the proverb, acquires a value by becoming current.
acquire
- (tr) to get or gain (something, such as an object, trait, or ability), esp more or less permanently
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Word Origin
C15: via Old French from Latin acquīrere, from ad- in addition + quaerere to get, seek
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for acquires
acquire
v.
mid-15c., acqueren, from Old French aquerre "acquire, gain, earn, procure," from Vulgar Latin *acquaerere, from Latin acquirere "to seek in addition to" (see acquisition). Reborrowed in current form from Latin c.1600. Related: Acquired; acquiring.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper