Obtain

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /əbˈteɪn/

Definitions

1. To get or acquire something through effort or request
2. To successfully acquire something through effort, seeking, or necessity
3. To come into possession of something by effort, request, or action

Etymology: The verb "obtain" carries a Latin sense of holding firmly that is easy to miss. Its ancestor, Latin "obtinēre," combined "ob-" (toward, against) with "tenēre" ("to hold"), so the core image is of holding something in front of you, or holding out against opposition. The Latin verb could mean "to gain, achieve, succeed" as well as "to possess," and it is the achievement sense that the English word inherited. The word reached English by a winding route. Medieval French and Anglo-Norman forms such as "obtenir" and "optiner" carried the Latin meaning into the language, and Middle English then adopted it as "obteinen." Over the centuries the spelling settled into the modern "obtain," while the meaning stayed close to its Latin source: to come into possession of something, usually by effort or by some deliberate act.

Synonyms: acquire, get, procure

Antonyms: lose, forfeit