different between acquire vs engage

English

Etymology

From Middle English acqueren, from Old French aquerre, from Latin acquir?; ad- + quaer? (“to seek for”). See quest.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??kwa???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??kwa??/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)
• Hyphenation: ac?quire

Verb

acquire (third-person singular simple present acquires, present participle acquiring, simple past and past participle acquired)

1. (transitive) To get.
2. (transitive) To gain, usually by one's own exertions; to get as one's own
   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Consideration of our Latter End (sermon)

     No virtue is acquired in an instant, but by degrees, step by step.

   • Descent is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate, by right of representation, as his heir at law.
3. (medicine) To contract.
4. (computing) To sample signals and convert them into digital values.

Synonyms

• (get, gain): attain, come by, earn, gain, obtain, procure, secure, win

Antonyms

• (get, gain): abandon, lose

Derived terms

• acquired taste

Related terms

• acquisition
• acquirement
• acquisitive
• acquisitory

See also

• obtain
• reach

Translations

Latin

Verb

acqu?re

1. second-person singular present active imperative of acqu?r?

English

Alternative forms

• ingage (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English engagen, from Old French engagier (“to pledge, engage”), from Frankish *anwadj?n (“to pledge”), from Proto-Germanic *an-, *andi- + Proto-Germanic *wadj?n? (“to pledge, secure”), from Proto-Germanic *wadj? (“pledge, guarantee”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed?- (“to pledge, redeem a pledge; guarantee, bail”), equivalent to en- +? gage. Cognate with Old English anwedd (“pledge, security”), Old English weddian (“to engage, covenant, undertake”), German wetten (“to bet, wager”), Icelandic veðja (“to wager”). More at wed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n??e?d?/, /?n??e?d?/
• Rhymes: -e?d?

Verb

engage (third-person singular simple present engages, present participle engaging, simple past and past participle engaged)

1. (heading, transitive) To interact socially.
   1. To engross or hold the attention of; to keep busy or occupied.
   2. To draw into conversation.

      • the difficult task of engaging him in conversation

   3. To attract, to please; (archaic) to fascinate or win over (someone).

      • Good nature engages everybody to him.

2. (heading) To interact antagonistically.
   1. (transitive) To enter into conflict with (an enemy).
      • 1698-1699, Edmund Ludlow, Memoirs

        a favourable opportunity of engaging the enemy

   2. (intransitive) To enter into battle.
3. (heading) To interact contractually.
   1. (transitive) To arrange to employ or use (a worker, a space, etc.).
   2. (intransitive) To guarantee or promise (to do something).
   3. (transitive) To bind through legal or moral obligation (to do something, especially to marry) (usually in passive).

   4. (obsolete, transitive) To pledge, pawn (one's property); to put (something) at risk or on the line; to mortgage (houses, land).
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vii:

        Thou that doest liue in later times, must wage / Thy workes for wealth, and life for gold engage.

4. (heading) To interact mechanically.
   1. To mesh or interlock (of machinery, especially a clutch).
   2. (engineering, transitive) To come into gear with.

      The teeth of one cogwheel engage those of another.

5. (intransitive) To enter into (an activity), to participate (construed with in).

   • “ […] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic? […]”

6. (transitive, obsolete) To entangle.

Antonyms

• (to cause to mesh or interlock): disengage

Derived terms

• engagement
• disengage
• disengagement

Translations

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.?a?/

Verb

engage

1. first-person singular present indicative of engager
2. third-person singular present indicative of engager
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of engager
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of engager
5. second-person singular imperative of engager

Anagrams

• gagnée