acquire
verb/əˈkwaɪə(r)/
/əˈkwaɪər/
(formal)Verb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they acquire | /əˈkwaɪə(r)/ /əˈkwaɪər/ |
| he / she / it acquires | /əˈkwaɪəz/ /əˈkwaɪərz/ |
| past simple acquired | /əˈkwaɪəd/ /əˈkwaɪərd/ |
| past participle acquired | /əˈkwaɪəd/ /əˈkwaɪərd/ |
| -ing form acquiring | /əˈkwaɪərɪŋ/ /əˈkwaɪərɪŋ/ |
- acquire something to gain something by your own efforts, ability or behaviour
- She has acquired a good knowledge of English.
- How long will it take to acquire the necessary skills?
- I would love to apply these newly acquired skills to a job that I enjoy.
- He has acquired a reputation for dishonesty.
- I have recently acquired a taste for olives.
Extra Examples- When you have acquired a basic range of computing skills, you will be ready to start the job.
- to acquire a love of something
- to acquire a bad name/criminal record/tan/look/appearance
- acquire something to obtain something by buying or being given it
- Not all of the land acquired for the road has been paid for yet.
- The country has pledged not to acquire nuclear weapons.
- Property acquired through crime will be confiscated.
- The company has just acquired new premises.
- How did the gallery come to acquire so many Picassos?
- I've suddenly acquired a stepbrother.
Word Originlate Middle English acquere, from Old French aquerre, based on Latin acquirere ‘get in addition’, from ad- ‘to’ + quaerere ‘seek’. The English spelling was modified (c.1600) by association with the Latin word.
Idioms
See acquire in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee acquire in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishan acquired taste
- a thing that you do not like much at first but gradually learn to like
- Abstract art is an acquired taste.
Check pronunciation:
acquire