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ACQUIRING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of acquiring something
Example:
he's much more interested in the getting than in the giving
Synonyms:
acquiring; getting
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("acquiring" is a kind of...):
act; deed; human action; human activity (something that people do or cause to happen)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "acquiring"):
acquisition (the act of contracting or assuming or acquiring possession of something)
obtainment; obtention (the act of obtaining)
catching; contracting (becoming infected)
appropriation (a deliberate act of acquisition of something, often without the permission of the owner)
moving in; occupancy; occupation (the act of occupying or taking possession of a building)
capture; gaining control; seizure (the act of forcibly dispossessing an owner of property)
receipt; reception (the act of receiving)
pickup (the act of taking aboard passengers or freight)
Derivation:
acquire (come into the possession of something concrete or abstract)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb acquire
Context examples:
Holmes’s card sent in to the manager ensured instant attention, and he was not long in acquiring all the information he needed.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It is one of those cases where the art of the reasoner should be used rather for the sifting of details than for the acquiring of fresh evidence.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
To provide senior fellowship support to established scientists who wish to make major changes in the direction of their research careers or who wish to broaden their scientific background by acquiring new research capabilities as independent research investigators in scientific health-related fields relevant to the missions of the NCI.
(National Research Service Award for Senior Fellows, NCI Thesaurus)
Any process by which a neutral atom gains or loses electrons, thus acquiring a net charge, as the dissociation of a substance in solution into ions or ion production by the passage of radioactive particles.
(Ionization, NCI Thesaurus)
The findings offer hope that amphibians and other wild animals threatened by fungal pathogens—such as bats, bees and snakes—might be capable of acquiring resistance to fungi and so might be rescued by management approaches based on herd immunity.
(Amphibians can acquire resistance to deadly fungus, NSF)
You were so much in the habit of thinking for me, in the happy old days here, and I came so naturally to you for counsel and support, that I really think I have missed acquiring it.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
The opportunities of acquiring an abnormal thirst had been here limited; a noble use of them had, however, been made, and again I was compelled to deal with the result in an ex post facto manner.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
For, as to that infamous practice of acquiring great employments by dancing on the ropes, or badges of favour and distinction by leaping over sticks and creeping under them, the reader is to observe, that they were first introduced by the grandfather of the emperor now reigning, and grew to the present height by the gradual increase of party and faction.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
He took notice of a general tradition, that Yahoos had not been always in their country; but that many ages ago, two of these brutes appeared together upon a mountain; whether produced by the heat of the sun upon corrupted mud and slime, or from the ooze and froth of the sea, was never known; that these Yahoos engendered, and their brood, in a short time, grew so numerous as to overrun and infest the whole nation; that the Houyhnhnms, to get rid of this evil, made a general hunting, and at last enclosed the whole herd; and destroying the elder, every Houyhnhnm kept two young ones in a kennel, and brought them to such a degree of tameness, as an animal, so savage by nature, can be capable of acquiring, using them for draught and carriage; that there seemed to be much truth in this tradition, and that those creatures could not be yinhniamshy (or aborigines of the land), because of the violent hatred the Houyhnhnms, as well as all other animals, bore them, which, although their evil disposition sufficiently deserved, could never have arrived at so high a degree if they had been aborigines, or else they would have long since been rooted out; that the inhabitants, taking a fancy to use the service of the Yahoos, had, very imprudently, neglected to cultivate the breed of asses, which are a comely animal, easily kept, more tame and orderly, without any offensive smell, strong enough for labour, although they yield to the other in agility of body, and if their braying be no agreeable sound, it is far preferable to the horrible howlings of the Yahoos.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
