achieve
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- atchieve (obsolete)
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English achieven, acheven, from Anglo-Norman achever, Old French achever, achiever et al., apparently from Late Latin *accappāre, present active infinitive of *accappō, from ad (“to”) + caput (“head”) + -ō (verbal suffix), or alternatively a construction based on Old French chief (“head”). 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)
- (intransitive) To succeed in something, now especially in academic performance. [from 14th c.]
- (transitive) To carry out successfully; to accomplish. [from 14th c.]
- You can achieve anything if you put your mind to it.
- Hannah achieved her lifelong dream of winning a medal at the Olympics.
- 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:
- 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.
- (obsolete, transitive) To conclude, finish, especially successfully. [14th–18th c.]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- Full many Countreyes they did overronne, / From the uprising to the setting Sunne, / And many hard adventures did atchieve […]
- (transitive) To obtain, or gain (a desired result, objective etc.), as the result of exertion; to succeed in gaining; to win. [from 14th c.]
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.
- 2013 January 22, Phil McNulty, “Aston Villa 2-1 Bradford (3-4)”, in 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.
- c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]:
- Some are born great, some achieve greatness.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- Thou hast achieved our liberty.
- (obsolete, intransitive) To conclude, to turn out. [14th–16th c.]
- (transitive, now literary) To obtain (a material thing). [from 15th c.]
- 1700, Matthew Prior, Carmen Seculare. for the Year 1700
- Show all the spoils by valiant kings achieved.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
- He hath achieved a maid / That paragons description.
Synonyms[edit]
- (carry out successfully): accomplish, fulfil, fulfill, realize
- (conclude): conclude, end, finalize, complete
- (obtain or gain a desired result): attain, obtain, get one's hands on
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to carry out successfully; to accomplish
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to obtain, or gain as the result of exertion
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading[edit]
- achieve at OneLook Dictionary Search
- “achieve”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
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