acquire

acquire — verb

1. to come to own a physical object, asset, or other thing — for example a painting

1.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to come to own a physical object, asset, or other thing — for example a painting, a piece of land, or a company — usually after some effort or expense.

Example

Paloma acquired a small wooden cabin near the lake last summer.

acquire + concrete object (cabin)

The museum acquired three rare paintings from a private collector in Paris.

acquire + from + source

Common collocations
  • acquire property
  • acquire land
  • acquire wealth
  • acquire a collection
  • acquire assets
Synonyms
  • obtain

    close synonym, slightly less formal

  • get

    neutral, fits all registers; 'acquire' implies effort or value

  • procure

    even more formal, often for hard-to-find supplies

Antonyms
  • lose

    to stop having something you once owned

  • forfeit

    to lose by penalty or as a consequence

Grammar Patterns

acquire + noun (object/possession)

Usage Note

More formal than 'get' or 'buy'. Often used when the manner of obtaining is unspecified or worth glossing over, or when the object is valuable, rare, or difficult to come by.

Common Mistakes

I acquired a sandwich for lunch.
I bought a sandwich for lunch.
'acquire' sounds too formal for everyday small purchases.

2. (of a company) to take ownership of another firm, a piece of real estate held as

2.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

(of a company) to take ownership of another firm, a piece of real estate held as an investment, or a block of shares, typically as part of a corporate deal.

Example

Last March, Sony acquired a small Taiwanese game studio for around fifty million dollars.

acquire + company + for + price

The bank plans to acquire a 30 percent stake in the airline by next year.

acquire + percentage stake in

Common collocations
  • acquire a stake
  • acquire a subsidiary
  • acquire a competitor
  • acquire shares in
Synonyms
  • take over

    phrasal verb; emphasises gaining control

  • buy out

    purchase the remaining shares, usually to gain full control

  • absorb

    merge a smaller firm into a larger one

Antonyms
  • divest

    sell off a business unit

  • spin off

    create a new independent company from part of an existing one

Grammar Patterns

acquire + company / shares / stake

Usage Note

Standard term in business and finance reporting. Subject is typically a company or investor; the deal is usually announced or disclosed publicly. Distinguish from sense 1 by the corporate object (firm, stake, shares).

Common Mistakes

Our company acquired with a smaller firm.
Our company acquired a smaller firm.
'acquire' is transitive; the company being bought goes directly after it without 'with'.

3. to gain the legal permission to publish, sell, broadcast, or otherwise use a cre

3.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to gain the legal permission to publish, sell, broadcast, or otherwise use a creative work — for example a novel, a song, or a film.

Example

Netflix acquired the rights to broadcast the documentary in over fifty countries.

acquire the rights + to + infinitive

A small London publisher acquired the rights to the novelist's complete works in 2019.

acquire the rights + to + noun

Common collocations
  • acquire the rights
  • acquire a licence
  • acquire the film rights
  • acquire publishing rights
Synonyms
  • secure

    stresses the difficulty of getting it

  • license

    obtain or grant a licence; legal-process focus

  • obtain

    more general; works for non-legal contexts too

Antonyms
  • release

    give up the rights one had

  • sell

    transfer rights to another party for payment

Grammar Patterns

acquire + the rights (to + something)

Usage Note

Object is almost always 'rights', 'licence', or a similar legal-permission noun. Often followed by 'to' + the work or activity covered. Common in publishing, film, and music journalism.

Common Mistakes

The studio acquired to broadcast the film.
The studio acquired the rights to broadcast the film.
you must say what was acquired (the rights/licence).

4. to slowly build up an ability, habit, taste, or piece of knowledge through study

4.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to slowly build up an ability, habit, taste, or piece of knowledge through study, repeated experience, or daily exposure rather than being born with it.

Example

Olu acquired his spoken Mandarin by chatting daily with neighbours in Taipei.

acquire + language (through exposure)

Children acquire a first language without formal lessons, just by listening and copying.

acquire + first language (linguistics term)

Common collocations
  • acquire a skill
  • acquire knowledge
  • acquire a taste for
  • acquire a reputation
  • acquire a habit
  • acquire a language
Synonyms
  • develop

    neutral; emphasises the growth process

  • pick up

    informal; often through casual exposure

  • learn

    general; less suggestive of slow accumulation

Antonyms
  • lose

    to stop having a skill or habit you once had

  • unlearn

    to deliberately drop a habit or wrong idea

Grammar Patterns

acquire + skill / knowledge / habit / language

Usage Note

Implies a gradual process, not a single event. Common objects include 'skill', 'knowledge', 'habit', 'taste', 'reputation', 'language'. Distinguish from sense 1: here the object is abstract (an ability or trait), not a thing you can hold.

Common Mistakes

I acquired French in three days.
I picked up some French in three days.
'acquire' suggests slow, gradual learning, not a quick crash course.

5. to come down with an illness or develop a medical problem during one's life, as

5.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to come down with an illness or develop a medical problem during one's life, as opposed to being born with it.

Example

Many patients acquire infections during long stays in crowded hospital wards.

collocation: acquire an infection

Her grandfather acquired hearing loss after years of working near loud machinery.

acquire + condition + after + cause

Common collocations
  • acquire an infection
  • acquire a disease
  • acquire immunity
  • hospital-acquired infection
Synonyms
  • contract

    more clinical; usually for infectious diseases

  • develop

    for chronic or non-infectious conditions

  • catch

    informal; for infectious illnesses like colds and flu

Antonyms
  • inherit

    have a condition passed down genetically

Grammar Patterns

acquire + disease / infection / condition

Usage Note

Frequently passive in medical writing ('be acquired through/from'). Contrasts with 'congenital' or 'inherited' conditions. The adjective 'acquired' is itself a medical term, as in 'acquired immune deficiency syndrome'.

Common Mistakes

She was born acquiring asthma.
She acquired asthma after she moved to the polluted city.
'acquire' a disease specifically means developing it after birth, not being born with it.
Idioms

an acquired taste

idiom

Something that you learn to enjoy after trying it several times.

Maya found that spicy food was an acquired taste.

Is classical music an acquired taste for most young people?

Word family

  • acquisition
    nounB2
  • acquired
    adjectiveB2
  • acquirer
    nounC1
  • reacquire
    verbC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All five verbs describe coming to have something, but they differ in tone and what they suggest about the process. 'Get' is the everyday neutral choice and works for almost anything ('I got a new phone'). 'Obtain' is more formal but still general — it just notes that you now have it. 'Acquire' goes a step further, hinting that the thing was valuable, rare, or took effort to come by; that's why we 'acquire' a painting, a company, or a reputation, but not a sandwich. 'Procure' is the most formal, often used for supplies that are hard to find or that someone arranges on your behalf ('the army procured fresh medicines'). 'Gain' focuses on benefit — what the thing does for you ('gain experience', 'gain access') — rather than on the transfer itself.

acquire ↗obtain ↗getprocuregain ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • gradually acquire
  • recently acquired
  • newly acquired
  • successfully acquire

Phrases

Prepositions

  • acquire from (a source)
  • acquire through (a process)
  • acquire by (means)
  • acquire for (a price)

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Reached English in the late Middle Ages from Old French 'aquerre', which itself came from Latin 'acquirere', a compound of 'ad-' ('to, toward') and 'quaerere' ('to seek, search for'). The original idea was 'to seek something in addition' or 'to add to what one has by searching'. The same Latin 'quaerere' lies behind English words like 'inquire', 'require', and 'question'. The Latin spelling 'cq' was reintroduced into the English form during the 16th century, replacing earlier 'aquire'.