acquired
Americanadjective
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obtained or procured, such as by purchasing, receiving, learning.
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Medicine/Medical. (of a disease or condition) developed by the patient at some point after birth.
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Biology. (of a trait) developed by an organism in response to its environment; not inherited.
Other Word Forms
Explanation
The adjective acquired describes something you're not born with: you gain or develop it later in life, like your acquired taste for coffee. Acquired comes from the Latin word acquirere, meaning "to seek in addition to. Something acquired is something you have gotten, not something you always had. For example, you may have acquired the habit of buying lots...and lots of sneakers after getting a job in a shoe store. Or, if you have an acquired habit of reading novels, this is something that developed over time. After all, you weren't born reading!
Vocabulary lists containing acquired
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 12–15
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Evolutionary Biology - Adaptation
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STAAR Biology: Biological Evolution and Classification
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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.
It begins as a search for other Therouxs in the area around Yamaska, Quebec—the hamlet where his ancestor Antoine dropped anchor with his wife, Marguerite, whom he’d acquired along the way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
In February 2020, it acquired a 60-acre estate as its business grew rapidly and it needed more space.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Once the object is acquired and the tension resolved, psychological arousal falls.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
The stakes are enormous for Meta, which has not made a product that normal people care about since Facebook and has not acquired any since WhatsApp in 2014.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
A legend in his own time, he was the sort of man who acquired multiple nicknames: the Pooh-Bah of Paris, the Little Man with a Big Stick, the Little King.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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.
