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Who were the first climbers confirmed to have achieved the goal of reaching the summit of Mt. Everest?

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achieve

American  

[uh-cheev] / əˈtʃiv /

verb (used with object)

• achieves,
  present (3rd person singular)
• achieved,
  past participle,  past
• achieving
  present participle

1. 

   to bring to a successful end; carry through; accomplish.

   The police crackdown on speeders achieved its purpose.

   Synonyms:

   reach, realize, execute, effect, complete, consummate

2. to get or attain by effort; gain; obtain.

   to achieve victory.

   Synonyms:

   win, realize

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verb (used without object)

• achieves,
  present (3rd person singular)
• achieved,
  past participle,  past
• achieving
  present participle

1. to bring about an intended result; accomplish some purpose or effect.

achieve British  

/ əˈtʃiːv /

verb

1. to bring to a successful conclusion; accomplish; attain

2. to gain as by hard work or effort

   to achieve success

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Synonym Usage

See do ¹.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• achiever
  noun
• superachiever
  noun
• outachieve
  verb (used with object)
• achievable
  adjective
• preachieved
  adjective
• unachievable
  adjective
• unachieved
  adjective
• well-achieved
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• achieving
  present
• achieved
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• achieve
  simple
• achieves
  simple
• have achieved
  perfect
• has achieved
  perfect
• am achieving
  progressive
• are achieving
  progressive
• is achieving
  progressive
• have been achieving
  perfect progressive
• has been achieving
  perfect progressive

Past

• achieved
  simple
• had achieved
  perfect
• was achieving
  progressive
• were achieving
  progressive
• had been achieving
  perfect progressive

Future

• will achieve
  simple
• will have achieved
  perfect
• will be achieving
  progressive
• will have been achieving
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

achieve achieves achieved achieving

In July this year, she earned her first IM norm at the Dole Open in France, becoming the youngest girl to achieve one, aged 11 years and four months.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

He focused instead on securing U.S. concessions on Taiwan, aiming to achieve suzerainty over this de facto independent island and its high-tech industries, but reportedly came away with little or nothing on that score.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

Most patients respond well to treatment, but 6-28 percent fall into the so-called "difficult-to-treat" group because they do not achieve lasting remission despite therapy.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 27, 2026

So what could China’s leader and President Donald Trump achieve on AI in their tête-à-têtes on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday?

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

“The creator has given us certain inviolable rights: the right to life, the right to be free, and the right to achieve happiness.”

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

If it achieves that, the spacecraft will then attempt to deploy satellites designed to expand the company's already massive satellite internet constellation.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

To compound matters, the masculine ego trap also tells a man that he’s not worthy of what he wants until he achieves some nebulous milestone that, again, sets him apart from other men.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

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

Neil: Hopefully he helps the team progress and achieves Euro 2028 qualification.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

Rather than use logos—detailed arguments and eye-glazing statistics about the ways in which the charity achieves the greatest good, distributes its funds, and so on—the ad shoots straight for the heart.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

Oddly, only one playoff qualifier is among the 14 mid-range payrolls of roughly $100 million to $200 million — the Milwaukee Brewers, who achieved baseball’s best record at 103-59 while paying its roster $143.5 million.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

I'm very proud of what I've achieved and what I did with Manchester City and what we achieved as a team.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

According to Prof. André de Villiers, Muller's study leader and main author on the paper, the separation achieved using the technique was key to spotting the rare compounds.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Carney indicated that some progress had been achieved since then, but not enough to clinch a deal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

To the extent that major changes are achieved without a complete shift, the system will rebound.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

In a paper published in October 2025 called "Artificial Writing and Automated Detection", researchers at the University of Chicago found Pangram "achieving near-zero error rates" on medium-to-long extracts.

From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026

But recessions rid economies of the inefficiencies and excesses that stop them from achieving robust growth postrecovery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

When Tanisha Saunders graduated from college eight years ago, she felt optimistic that she was on her way to achieving an American dream that included homeownership.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

On his first day, he asked his manager if they could have check-ins every six months to make sure he was achieving his goals.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

I was proud of Father for wanting to be a dragon again, and even prouder of the fact that he was now so close to achieving his ambition to fly.

From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep

Related Words

• accomplish
• attain
• bring about
• carry out
• complete
• conclude
• do
• earn
• enact
• end
• gain
• manage
• obtain
• produce
• reach
• realize
• resolve
• settle
• sign
• solve