obtain
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /əbˈteɪn/
rhymes: -eɪn
homophone: abthane
Forms: form: obtains
form: obtaining
form: obtained
form: obtained
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: obtain
form: obtain
form: obtained
form: obtain
form: obtainest
form: obtained
form: obtainedst
form: obtains
form: obtaineth
form: obtained
form: obtain
form: obtained
form: obtain
form: obtained
form: obtain
form: -
form: obtaining
form: obtained
form: obtein
form: obteyn
Etymology: From Middle English obteinen, from Anglo-Norman obtenir, optiner et al., and Middle French obtenir, from Latin obtinēre (“to gain, achieve, succeed, possess”), from ob- + tenēre (“to hold”).
Senses: examples: text: obtain permission
text: obtain information
text: difficult to obtain
text: Applicants must obtain a permit before construction.
text: We obtained accurate data from the survey.
text: And a certayne ruler axed him: sayinge: Goode Master: what ought I to do, to obtaine eternall lyfe?
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke:
text: […] Julia was quite as eager for novelty and pleasure as Maria, though she might not have struggled through so much to obtain them, and could better bear a subordinate situation.
ref: 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter III, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 64:
text: But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.
ref: 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 48:
glosses: To get hold of; to gain possession of, to procure; to acquire, in any way.
examples: text: he was condemned to die for the felony, and being so well known for an old offender, had certainly died, but the merchant, upon his earnest application, had obtained that he should be transported, on condition that he restored all the rest of his bills, which he had done accordingly.
ref: 1722, Daniel Defoe, Colonel Jack:
glosses: To secure (that) a specific objective or state of affairs be reached.
examples: text: “O daughter deare!” (said she) “despeire no whit; / For never sore but might a salve obtain [...].”
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
text: This, though it failed at present, yet afterward obtained, and was a mighty step to the ruin of the commonwealth.
ref: 1701, Jonathan Swift, Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome:
glosses: To prevail, be victorious; to succeed.
examples: text: His mother then is mortal, but his Sire / He who obtains the monarchy of Heav'n, / And what will he not do to advance his Son?
ref: 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 6, lines 76–79:
glosses: To hold; to keep, possess or occupy.
examples: text: Even though the Pervaise confession had never come to light, no reasonable doubt could obtain; for the act in question […] was on a par with countless other acts committed by the oligarchs, and, before them, by the capitalists.
ref: 1908 February 19, Jack London, chapter 17, in The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC:
text: In connection with the various courses of practical instruction, the companies maintain signalling schools fitted with standard railway equipment in which the staff can be given instructions under conditions exactly similar to those which obtain in signal boxes.
ref: 1942 July-August, T. F. Cameron, “How the Staff of a Railway is Recruited”, in Railway Magazine, page 207:
text: But the hostage situation no longer obtains, and so Uncle Enzo feels it important to stop Rife now, […]
ref: 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 460:
topics: human-sciences
philosophy
sciences
glosses: To exist or be the case; to hold true, be in force.
Synonyms: sense: to gain possession of
word: get
sense: to gain possession of
word: gain
sense: to gain possession of
word: acquire
sense: to gain possession of
word: attain
sense: to gain possession of
word: procure
sense: to gain possession of
word: exact
Derived terms: obtainability
obtainable
obtainance
obtainer
obtainment
preobtain
reobtain
unobtainability
unobtained