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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

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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

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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

Plenty of performers will wax poetic about their methods, saying what they hope to achieve in their work — how hard they worked to identify with their character.

From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026

His pole was a surprise because the people most likely to achieve it before qualifying had appeared to be one of the Ferrari drivers or Verstappen.

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026

"But... in 10 to 15 years, we will also be reducing naphtha and coal, and we will be able to achieve 90-95 percent renewable energy."

From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2026

Drugs such as semaglutide and tirzepatide have helped many patients achieve substantial reductions in body weight, largely by influencing appetite and the body's responses to food.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 24, 2026

Maybe Sapiens had other aspirations, and were consciously willing to make their lives harder in order to achieve them.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

It also has a ranked-choice voting system, meaning that if none of the four candidates on the ballot achieves a majority—likely—the state won’t tabulate final results until Nov. 18.

From Slate ● Oct. 24, 2026

Committing to three more years means her legacy may now be defined by what she achieves next.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

By combining two advanced microscopy techniques, the instrument achieves a resolution of approximately 120 nanometers, an unprecedented level of detail for an approach that does not require fluorescent labels.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026

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

He achieves his own authority, and that is unshakable.

From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin

In the new study, researchers achieved something that had not been demonstrated before.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026

Gibaut said: "We are incredibly proud of what has been achieved, but we also know that demand continues to grow and people's needs are changing."

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026

When used to identify plastics, pharmaceuticals, coffee, flour, and tea, the spectrometer achieved a 100% classification success rate in the reported tests.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026

“He achieved his goal of presenting himself as a centrist, as a moderate,” she said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

Her dark, pert face showed satisfaction, as if she had achieved something of worth.

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

Sitting in front of rows of cookbooks at her Manhattan apartment, she spoke to us about her new media venture, how to dress up store-bought cheesecake and her trick for achieving perfectly creamy scrambled eggs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

“Not many people see us as a community capable of achieving something this big,” said Jaelyn.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026

Part of his strategy for achieving that is to demonstrate delivery in devolved government on issues of everyday concern.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

More than eight decades after the war, the surviving uranium cubes have helped resolve a longstanding historical question, revealing just how far Nazi Germany remained from achieving a critical step toward building an atomic bomb.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

Our involvement will be so great that we cannot—without national humiliation—stop short of achieving our complete objectives.

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

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Related Words

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

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