acquire
English
Etymology
From Middle English acqueren, from Old French aquerre, from Latin acquirō; ad- + quaerō (“to seek for”). See quest.
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /əˈkwaɪɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əˈkwaɪə/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: ac‧quire
Verb
acquire (third-person singular simple present acquires, present participle acquiring, simple past and past participle acquired)
- (transitive) To get.
- (transitive) To gain, usually by one's own exertions; to get as one's own
- He acquired a title.
- all the riches he acquired were from hard work.
- One should acquire as much knowledge as possible from reading.
- to acquire a skill
- to acquire decent habits and manners
- a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). The Consideration of our Latter End”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:
- No virtue is acquired in an instant, but by degrees, step by step.
- 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:
- Descent is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate, by right of representation, as his heir at law.
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
- Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.
- (medicine) To become affected by an illness.
- (computing) To sample signals and convert them into digital values.
Conjugation
Conjugation of acquire
| infinitive | (to) acquire | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | acquire | acquired | |
| 2nd-person singular | acquire, acquirest† | acquired, acquiredst† | |
| 3rd-person singular | acquires, acquireth† | acquired | |
| plural | acquire | ||
| subjunctive | acquire | acquired | |
| imperative | acquire | — | |
| participles | acquiring | acquired | |
†Archaic or obsolete.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to get
|
to gain, usually by one's own exertions; to get as one's own
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Latin
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