Library / English Dictionary

OBTAIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Receive a specified treatment (abstract)

Example:

I got nothing but trouble for my good intentions

Synonyms:

find; get; incur; obtain; receive

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "obtain" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Verb group:

acquire; get (come into the possession of something concrete or abstract)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "obtain"):

take (ascertain or determine by measuring, computing or take a reading from a dial)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Come into possession of

Example:

How did you obtain the visa?

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "obtain" is one way to...):

acquire; get (come into the possession of something concrete or abstract)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "obtain"):

carry (secure the passage or adoption (of bills and motions))

dig up; excavate; turn up (find by digging in the ground)

extort; wring from (get or cause to become in a difficult or laborious manner)

kite (get credit or money by using a bad check)

source (get (a product) from another country or business)

procure; secure (get by special effort)

extract (get despite difficulties or obstacles)

take out (obtain by legal or official process)

get in; get into (secure a place in a college, university, etc.)

eke out; squeeze out (obtain with difficulty)

bum; cadge; grub; mooch; sponge (ask for and get free; be a parasite)

derive; gain (obtain)

shop (do one's shopping)

snag (get by acting quickly and smartly)

grab (obtain illegally or unscrupulously)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something from somebody

Derivation:

obtainable (capable of being obtained)

obtainment; obtention (the act of obtaining)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be valid, applicable, or true

Example:

This theory still holds

Synonyms:

hold; obtain; prevail

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "obtain" is one way to...):

be; exist (have an existence, be extant)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Credits

 Context examples: 

A compound obtained from the needles of the Taxus baccata tree that is used as a precursor of paclitaxel.

(Baccatin III, NCI Thesaurus)

The bank has an associated database that contains prognostic, staging, outcome and treatment data on patients from whom tissues were obtained.

(AIDS and Cancer Specimen Bank, NCI Thesaurus)

As I could obtain a perspective view of Mr. Omer inside, smoking his pipe by the parlour door, I entered, and asked him how he was.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The process of obtaining subjects for a study.

(Accrual, NCI Thesaurus)

Investigators also obtained nasal and throat swabs from contacts at the start of the study and every few days for approximately two weeks thereafter to track whether they became infected with influenza virus.

(New study reveals a novel indicator of influenza immunity, National Institutes of Health)

Images obtained by NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft reveal previously undetected small fault scarps— cliff-like landforms that resemble stair steps.

(The Incredible Shrinking Mercury is Active After All, NASA)

Infusion of previously obtained autologous blood or blood products back to the same individual.

(Autotransfusion Procedure, NCI Thesaurus)

Since landing from the boat he has obtained some consolation from the beauty and variety of the insect and bird life around him, for he is absolutely whole-hearted in his devotion to science.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Prevented from obtaining his share of meat and fish when a general feed was given to the camp-dogs, he became a clever thief.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

His idea, for which the novels were responsible, had been that only formal proposals obtained in the upper classes.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)