DictionaryAI

obtain

verb
uhb-TAYN/əbˈteɪn/

Formsobtains, obtaining, obtained

5 meanings of obtain

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To gain possession of something, or to acquire it by some means or effort.

    Researchers obtained the data through a formal records request.

    To obtain a passport, you must submit two recent photographs.

    Similarget, acquire, secure, gain

    Oppositelose

    Note

    The sense that survives in daily use comes from Latin obtinēre, built from ob- and tenēre "to hold". The Latin verb already meant to gain, to succeed and to possess, and English once used all three. Today it most naturally takes the things one applies for: permission, information, a permit. It also sits comfortably in difficult to obtain, where the effort of getting is the point.

  2. 2
    verbintransitive
    To exist or be the case; to hold true or be in force within a given situation.

    Quite different customs obtain in the rural districts.

    The peace that obtained between the two nations lasted a decade.

    Similarprevail, exist, hold

    Note

    Philosophers use it of facts and conditions: a state of affairs obtains when it actually holds. It never takes an object, and its subject is the situation itself. Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash (1992) has "the hostage situation no longer obtains," and Jack London's "no reasonable doubt could obtain" has the same shape. The missing object is the quick test that separates it from the everyday "get" meaning.

  3. 3
    verbobsoleteintransitive
    To prevail or be victorious; to succeed in a struggle or contest.

    Despite being outnumbered, the defenders obtained at last.

    This, though it failed at present, yet afterward obtained, and was a mighty step to the ruin of the commonwealth.
    1701, Jonathan Swift, Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome
    Note

    Here obtain stands alone, with no object, and means to win out. Jonathan Swift writes of a measure that "though it failed at present, yet afterward obtained." Failing is its natural opposite. Spenser uses it the same way in The Faerie Queene (1590). It is obsolete, and a modern reader can easily mistake it for the "be in force" sense, which is still alive.

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    verbobsoleteintransitive
    To bring it about that a specific objective or state of affairs is reached; to secure such an outcome.
    Note

    A lost construction in which obtain takes a that-clause instead of an object. In Daniel Defoe's Colonel Jack (1722), a merchant "obtained that he should be transported" instead of hanged. What is gained here is an outcome, not a possession. The use is obsolete. A modern writer would say secured or arranged that, and should keep this shape only for imitating older prose.

  2. 5
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To hold, keep, or occupy something; to have it in one's possession.
    His mother then is mortal, but his Sire / He who obtains the monarchy of Heav'n, / And what will he not do to advance his Son?
    1671, John Milton, “The First Book”
    Note

    This is the sense closest to the Latin root behind the everyday "get" meaning, where tenēre means "to hold": to obtain something is to keep it, not to come by it. In Paradise Regain'd (1671), Milton calls God "He who obtains the monarchy of Heav'n", meaning the one who holds it. The use is obsolete, and readers of older verse should not read gain into it.

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Origin

This word came through Middle English obteinen and Anglo-Norman and Middle French obtenir, from Latin obtinēre ("to gain, achieve, succeed, possess"), formed from ob- plus tenēre ("to hold").