acquire

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English

Etymology

From Middle English acqueren, from Old French aquerre, from Latin acquirō; ad- + quaerō (“to seek for”). See quest.

Pronunciation

Verb

acquire (third-person singular simple present acquires, present participle acquiring, simple past and past participle acquired)

  1. (transitive) To get.
  2. (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.
  3. (medicine) To become affected by an illness.
    Synonyms: contract, catch, get
  4. (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.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also

Latin

Verb

acquīre

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of acquīrō
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