acquire

verb

ac·quire | \ ə-ˈkwī(-ə)r

acquired; acquiring

Definition of acquire

1 : to get as one's own:

a : to come into possession or control of often by unspecified means acquire property The team acquired three new players this year.

b : to come to have as a new or added characteristic, trait, or ability (as by sustained effort or natural selection) acquire fluency in French bacteria that acquire tolerance to antibiotics

2 : to locate and hold (a desired object) in a detector acquire a target by radar

Other Words from acquire Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about acquire

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Synonyms & Antonyms for acquire

Synonyms

cultivate, develop, form

Antonyms

lose

Examples of acquire in a Sentence

The two ships were acquired by the navy after the war. The team acquired three new players this year. The old word has acquired a new meaning. This apparently minor event has acquired increasing significance in recent weeks. He is studying the way that language is acquired by children.

Recent Examples on the Web

Prior to being acquired by AOL, Andreessen publicly released the source code for Netscape Navigator 4.0, allowing a worldwide community of programmers to keep working on it. — Matt Blitz, Popular Mechanics, "Later, Navigator: How Netscape Won and Then Lost the World Wide Web," 4 Apr. 2019 Advertising Goldschmidt, a first baseman acquired by St. Louis from Arizona in December, had a $14.5 million salary this season. — Ronald Blum, The Seattle Times, "AP study: MLB average salary on track for 2nd straight drop," 26 Mar. 2019 The diamond was first discovered in South Africa in 1877, and was acquired by Tiffany one year later. — Carrie Goldberg, Harper's BAZAAR, "Lady Gaga Just Showed up to the Oscars in One of the World's Most Famous Pieces of Jewelry," 25 Feb. 2019 However, the Mountain, priced out of the reach of even the Hollywood elite, seems more likely to be acquired by a bad actor on the global stage. — Alex Bhattacharji, Town & Country, "An Empty Lot Above Beverly Hills Is the Most Expensive Real Estate in the World," 17 Jan. 2019 Shipt, the same-day grocery delivery service acquired by Target last year, has announced plans to expand into more cities and offer a wider product selection starting in 2019. — Dami Lee, The Verge, "Target’s Shipt same-day delivery service will expand to take on Amazon and Walmart," 18 Dec. 2018 Redactron competed directly with IBM and was ultimately acquired by the Burroughs Corporation. — Samuel Axon, Ars Technica, "Computing pioneer Evelyn Berezin died this week—she should be remembered," 15 Dec. 2018 The frigate is one of three former U.S. Coast Guard cutters which were acquired by the Philippine military from the United States and now are the Philippines' largest warships. — Jim Gomez, Fox News, "Philippines informs China of grounded frigate amid sea feud," 31 Aug. 2018 The In Between, has officially been acquired by Paramount Players, Deadline reported. — Sarah Grace Hart, Teen Vogue, "Joey King's New Movie "The In Between" Is One Step Closer to Production," 2 Aug. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'acquire.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for acquire

borrowed from Latin acquīrere, from ad- ad- + quaerere "to seek, gain, obtain, enquire"; replacing earlier aquere, going back to Middle English aqweren, borrowed from Anglo-French acquerre, going back to Vulgar Latin *acquaerere, restructuring (by restoring the vocalism of quaerere) of acquīrere — more at quest entry 1

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Dictionary Entries near acquire

acquired brain injury

Statistics for acquire

Last Updated

9 Apr 2019

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for acquire

The first known use of acquire was in the 15th century

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More Definitions for acquire

acquire

verb

English Language Learners Definition of acquire

formal : to get (something) : to come to own (something) : to come to have (something)

: to gain (a new skill, ability, etc.) usually by your own effort

See the full definition for acquire in the English Language Learners Dictionary

acquire

verb

ac·quire | \ ə-ˈkwīr

acquired; acquiring

Kids Definition of acquire

: to get especially through effort : gain acquire a skill

acquire

transitive verb

ac·quire | \ ə-ˈkwī(ə)r

acquired; acquiring

Medical Definition of acquire

: to come to have as a new or additional characteristic, trait, or ability (as by sustained effort, by mutation, or through environmental forces) a cognitive system…that is acquired in early childhood— Noam Chomsky bacteria that acquire tolerance to antibiotics insects that acquire resistance to insecticides

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acquire

transitive verb

ac·quire | \ ə-ˈkwīr

acquired; acquiring

Legal Definition of acquire

: to come into possession, ownership, or control of : obtain as one's own the target's directors don't want the company to be acquired— R. C. Clark the court acquired jurisdiction