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

PayPal CEO Enrique Lores on Tuesday said that the company does not comment on market speculation or potential merger talks, but didn’t dismiss the possibility of an acquisition.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

It follows the acquisition of another portfolio in April in a 320-million-euro deal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

Announcing the acquisition, the National Portrait Gallery called Charli "one of the defining artists of our time".

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

Mr. O’Connell argues that, besides moving in the direction of home, the chief activity of the Greek army was “the acquisition of humans.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

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

From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth

The company can’t pursue significant acquisitions, asset sales or certain content and distribution deals without Paramount’s consent.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

Investors seem to be worried about the scope of the company’s spending on infrastructure and acquisitions to support the development of generative artificial intelligence technology.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026

For this to happen, the analysts said they would want the company to prioritize organic growth as opposed to completing large acquisitions and to finalize the deals that were delayed in the previous quarter.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

Those five acquisitions combined have provided the Mets fewer wins above replacement than Bobby Bonilla this season.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

Just like algebra and calculus, these tools and these values represent acquisitions which are too powerful to be discarded, and which remain not as museum pieces but are in constant use.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• addition
• gain
• procurement
• purchase
• recovery