Acquire: The Formal Cousin of Get, and When to Use It
To acquire something is to come to own or possess it, usually deliberately and often over time. It is the formal word for get, and it also covers learning a skill.
To acquire is to obtain something — a company, a habit, a language, a reputation. It is more formal than *get* and implies a process rather than an instant: you get a text message, but you acquire a taste for olives.
- To obtain or buy. *The group acquired three rival firms.*
- To develop or learn. *He acquired fluent Portuguese in two years.*
- To come to have a quality. *The house had acquired a strange smell.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | acquire | They acquired the rights in 2019. |
| Past | acquired | An acquired taste. |
| Noun | acquisition | The acquisition closed in June. |
| Person | acquirer | The acquirer paid in shares. |
| Adjective | acquisitive | An acquisitive collector. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The museum acquired the painting at auction.Formal buying.
- Children acquire language without being taught grammar.The learning sense, standard in linguistics.
- Blue cheese is an acquired taste.Something you learn to like.
- He has acquired a reputation for being difficult.A quality gained over time.
Acquire, obtain, get and procure
- Get — the everyday word, neutral and short
- Obtain — formal, often through a process or request
- Acquire — formal, implies ownership gained over time
- Procure — formal, implies effort and often official supply
From Latin *acquirere*, to add to what one has, from *ad* (to) plus *quaerere* (to seek). The same root gave *query*, *question* and *inquire* — all of them originally about seeking.
What is an acquired taste?
Something most people dislike at first and come to enjoy with repeated exposure — olives, strong cheese, certain music.
Acquire or aquire?
Acquire. The c is easy to drop in typing, but the spelling follows Latin ad + quaerere.