achieve

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Contents

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Anglo-Norman aschever, Middle French achever, achiever et al., apparently from Late Latin *accappō, from ad (“to”) + caput (“head”) + -ō (verbal suffix). Compare Catalan, Occitan, Portuguese and Spanish acabar, French achever.

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

achieve (third-person singular simple present achieves, present participle achieving, simple past and past participle achieved)

  1. (intransitive) To succeed in something, now especially in academic performance. [from 14th c.]
  2. (transitive) To carry out successfully; to accomplish. [from 14th c.]
    Supposing faculties and powers to be the same, far more may be achieved in any line by the aid of a capital, invigorating motive than without it. - I. Taylor
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To conclude, finish, especially successfully. [14th-18th c.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:
      Full many Countreyes they did overronne, / From the uprising to the setting Sunne, / And many hard adventures did atchieve [...].
  4. (transitive) To obtain, or gain (a desired result, objective etc.), as the result of exertion; to succeed in gaining; to win. [from 14th c.]
    • 2013 January 22, Phil McNulty, “Aston Villa 2-1 Bradford (3-4)”, BBC:
      Bradford may have lost on the night but they stubbornly protected a 3-1 first-leg advantage to emulate a feat last achieved by Rochdale in 1962.
    Some are born great, some achieve greatness - Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, II-v
    Thou hast achieved our liberty. - John Milton
  5. (obsolete, intransitive) To conclude, to turn out. [14th-16th c.]
  6. (transitive, now literary) To obtain (a material thing). [from 15th c.]
    Show all the spoils by valiant kings achieved. - Prior
    He hath achieved a maid / That paragons description. - Shakespeare, Othello, II-i

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

to carry out successfully; to accomplish
to obtain, or gain as the result of exertion
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Translations to be checked

External links[edit]

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