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:
He states he remains "fully committed to leading Fifa and confident in what we can achieve together".
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Modern therapies can help many patients achieve remission, but diagnosing and managing IBD remains challenging.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
Some analysts doubt Warsh is willing to wait two or three years to achieve that goal, based on his recent tough talk and his pre-Trump history of favoring an aggressive approach to fighting inflation.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026
University of Chicago Booth School of Business economist Christina Patterson said employees who achieve pay bumps often bear a burden.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
That’s how unfair things were during that era and why Colored people fought so hard and engaged in so much self-help in an effort to achieve equality.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
There’s a difference between a film that becomes a cult classic because it’s genuinely underrated, and one that achieves that status through the unholy, rose-colored lens of social media obsession.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
That’s unusual even by AI-era standards, with analysts noting that a business built around physical hardware rarely achieves margins that high.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
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
He achieves his own authority, and that is unshakable.
From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
"Our work together already shows what can be achieved when our two countries combine our expertise and innovation," the prime minister said.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
The piece suggests that California achieved a limited but meaningful victory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
“I’m so proud, so proud with what we achieved last Sunday,” Ms. Machado told me by telephone from Caracas days after that election.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Yet scientists still do not know its fundamental strength with the precision they have achieved for other basic forces of nature.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
The match would continue, indefinitely, until one player achieved ten wins, draws not counting.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
The combination of a good proportion of diabetics getting back to normalized glucose levels and achieving sustained weight loss with enicepatide give the drug a competitive profile, Schneider says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
After achieving success, some firms shed their solo status by adding employees or getting acquired by a larger firm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
But agreeing on what a new global order should look like and achieving clear, tangible outcomes was a much harder task, and that tension ran through this weekend's summit.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
In his post, Amodei urged “building AI at a balanced rate that aims to ensure its safety while still achieving its benefits and grappling with important geopolitical dilemmas.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 12, 2026
I had to keep in mind that my entire life could be, and might well be, used in achieving my mission for the Ekumen.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
