achieve
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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:
Morrison didn’t publish her first novel until she was 39, and it took Tuchman decades to achieve a level of success that allowed her to fully commit to a writing career.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
“Our retirement savings system is built on incentives to help workers achieve financial security after a lifetime of work — not on loopholes for the wealthiest to exploit,” Neal said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Anduril said “Thunder is urgently needed today” and “brings the combination of capabilities necessary to achieve maneuver dominance on the modern battlefield.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Our goal is to achieve a 20 to 30 percent reduction in fuel consumption.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Time lines of labor-union victories do not always show the depth of the struggles and the sacrifices made to achieve gains in workers’ rights.
From "Fannie Never Flinched" by Mary Cronk Farrell
They said the new deal "achieves this without any government funding or cost to taxpayers".
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Although it cannot match Starship's enormous lifting capacity, it achieves much greater efficiency.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
Whether SK Hynix achieves anything close to that is difficult to say, but it seems nearly certain that another cyclical downturn will come eventually.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
It typically achieves these goals through interest-rate decisions -- cutting borrowing costs to spur economic activity or raising them to cool prices.
From Barron's ● Jun. 14, 2026
The more tests given—and the more students enrolled in rigorous courses—the higher the ranking a school achieves.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
“Thank you for welcoming us today, Mr. President. We’re proud of that team and what it has achieved, and we hope to be back here again next year.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Just seven of them achieved full marks, according to the official IMO scoreboard.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
"It was a culture shock for me, I have to say, somebody who had won what he'd won and achieved what he had achieved in the game," Anderson said.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Matador Resources last month touted big savings achieved by using gas from its own wells, rather than purchased fuel, to run equipment at a drilling site.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Having achieved the rank of major general, Garfield resigned his U.S.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
Food-delivery company DoorDash says it uses an Anthropic model for cutting-edge tasks and a Moonshot model for lower-level workloads, achieving better performance at lower cost.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
Ben Martinez, Calexico’s city manager, said his city continues to work with state officials on the plans and “remains fully committed to achieving compliance with California Housing Element law.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
While many workers focus on their salaries, achieving financial well-being requires another “cushion that income alone cannot provide” — it requires wealth, including savings, investments and other assets, according to the report.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
But the expected uptick in commercial deliveries from newly certified aircraft is central to the company's long-term target of achieving $10 billion in annual free cash flow.
From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026
Barred by law from invoking race explicitly, those committed to racial hierarchy were forced to search for new means of achieving their goals according to the new rules of American democracy.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
