What does acquire mean?
To acquire is to come to have or gain possession of something, whether through deliberate action such as buying or taking over, or through gradual development over time. The verb covers both concrete gains — acquiring property, assets, or an entire company — and intangible ones, such as acquiring a language, a skill, a habit, or even a taste for something once disliked. In business contexts, 'acquire' carries a precise meaning: one company purchasing or merging with another, making the word a staple of financial journalism. It sits slightly above 'get' in formality, lending weight to legal, academic, and professional writing while remaining perfectly natural in general prose. Derived forms like 'acquisition' and 'acquisitive' extend its reach into economics and psychology. From Latin roots meaning 'to seek in addition', acquire has long carried the sense of adding something valuable to what one already has — which is precisely how we still use it today.
verbTo gain possession of or come to have something, whether by one's own effort, through purchase, or as a natural result of time and experience.
- To come into possession of something, especially deliberately or through effort (to acquire property, shares, or a company).
- To gradually develop or come to have a skill, habit, quality, or characteristic through experience (to acquire a skill, an accent, or a taste for something).
"She acquired a taste for strong coffee during her years in Italy."
"The company acquired its main rival in a deal worth nearly two billion dollars."
"He acquired fluent Spanish while working in Buenos Aires for three years."
Acquired traits famously don't pass to your children — Lamarck's giraffes stretched their necks in vain, but your vocabulary, skills, and tastes are all things you genuinely acquire.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of acquire
Acquire comes from the Latin 'acquirere', formed from 'ad-' (toward) plus 'quaerere' (to seek), literally meaning 'to seek in addition'. It entered English via Old French 'acquerre' in the late Middle Ages, with recorded use from around the early 15th century. The same Latin root 'quaerere' also gave English 'inquire', 'require', 'quest', and 'question', making acquire part of a large family of seeking-related words.
Related word forms
How acquire is actually used
Slightly more formal than 'get' or 'obtain' in everyday speech; common in business, legal, and academic contexts. In business English, 'acquire' specifically means to buy or take over another company. The phrase 'acquired taste' describes something appreciated only after initial exposure.
Easily confused with acquire
Inquire means to ask about or investigate something, while acquire means to obtain or come to possess it — the two share a Latin root but differ entirely in meaning.