acquired

American  

[uh-kwahy-erd] / əˈkwaɪ ərd /

adjective

1. obtained or procured, such as by purchasing, receiving, learning.

2. Medicine/Medical. (of a disease or condition) developed by the patient at some point after birth.

3. Biology. (of a trait) developed by an organism in response to its environment; not inherited.

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Other Word Forms

• nonacquired adjective
• pre-acquired adjective
• reacquired adjective
• self-acquired adjective
• unacquired adjective

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!

Example Sentences

Now, SpaceX regularly launches Falcon 9 rockets, has developed a major satellite-internet business, is testing a mega-rocket and has acquired Musk’s artificial-intelligence startup.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026

For many years after his son Frances’s death, Franklin dutifully recorded statistics on outbreaks throughout the colonies to demonstrate that smallpox acquired by inoculation was safer than that received in the “natural” way.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026

That pick was acquired from Seattle in the Plum trade last year.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026

Per Monday’s update, Strategy holds a total of 780,897 Bitcoin acquired for roughly $75,577 each.

From Barron's • Apr. 13, 2026

He had learned mathematics largely without paper or pen and thus acquired the ability to visualize problems in his mind’s eye before writing equations on paper.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• captured
• collected
• seized