Roger Manvell
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If you have difficulty choosing whether to use obtain or attain in a sentence, don’t worry, we get it. Both can mean “to get” or “to acquire,” and in some situations can be used synonymously, but one or the other might be more appropriate depending on what is being acquired and how. One clue is their respective etymologies: obtain comes to us via Anglo-French from the Latin verb obtinēre, meaning “to hold on to, possess,” while attain’s Anglo-French ancestor is ateindre, meaning “to reach” or “to accomplish.” Accordingly, obtain is usually the word used when you are acquiring, by planned effort, a tangible object—something you can hold. “We are having trouble obtaining the supplies we need” sounds natural, for example, while “Have you attained the sugar and flour I asked for?” does not. Reflecting its roots (and also implying effort), attain is often used in the same way as achieve, as in “After decades of hard work she attained her goal of earning a PhD.” Of course, one can also obtain intangible things, such as power or information, so consider this advice something to hold onto and consider when the moment arises—you needn’t cling to it.
Synonyms
Examples of obtain in a Sentence
Li Zhou, WIRED, 23 Nov. 2024
Patients who obtain abortions for themselves are not liable under civil or criminal statutes, but anyone who aids or abets illicit terminations of pregnancy can be targeted under several laws.
—Bayliss Wagner, Austin American-Statesman, 22 Nov. 2024
In documents obtained by AllHipHop, one of Diddy’s lawyers, Alexandra Shapiro, admitted that Combs used other inmates’ Phone Access Cards (PACs) to make calls, a violation of the rules laid out by the U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
—Jessica Bennett, VIBE.com, 22 Nov. 2024
While the House ethics report on Gaetz was at least temporarily blocked by his resignation from Congress shortly last week, a DOJ document obtained by The New York Times added fuel to the fire on Wednesday by revealing that Gaetz allegedly paid thousands of dollars to a number of women via Venmo.
—Matt Robison, Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Obtain.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obtain. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.
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obtain
verb
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