different between contain vs acquire

English

Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French contenir, from Latin continere (“to hold or keep together, comprise, contain”), combined form of con- (“together”) + tene? (“to hold”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?n-t?n?, IPA^(key): /k?n?te?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n
• Hyphenation: con?tain

Verb

contain (third-person singular simple present contains, present participle containing, simple past and past participle contained)

1. (transitive) To hold inside.
2. (transitive) To include as a part.
3. (transitive) To put constraint upon; to restrain; to confine; to keep within bounds.

   • [The king's] only Person is oftentimes instead of an Army, to contain the unruly People from a thousand evil Occasions.
4. (mathematics, of a set etc., transitive) To have as an element or subset.

5. (obsolete, intransitive) To restrain desire; to live in continence or chastity.

   • But if they cannot contain, let them marry.

Synonyms

• (hold inside): enclose, inhold
• (include as part): comprise, embody, incorporate, inhold
• (limit by restraint): control, curb, repress, restrain, restrict, stifle; See also Thesaurus:curb

Antonyms

• (include as part): exclude, omit
• (limit by restraint): release, vent

Usage notes

• This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs

Related terms

• container
• containable
• containment
• content
• continence

Translations

Further reading

• contain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• contain in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• contain at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• actinon, cantion

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?