obtaining
- 1Present participle and gerund of obtain.
The company is obtaining permits for the new construction site.
Obtaining accurate data proved harder than the researchers had expected.
Note
The -ing form does two quite different jobs. Usually it carries the transitive sense and takes an object: obtaining permits, obtaining a visa. But obtain can also stand alone meaning 'to hold true, be in force', and then the participle typically follows its noun: the conditions obtaining at the time. The missing object is the clue. Nothing is being acquired; something simply is the case.
The rules obtaining at the time allowed no exceptions.
Under the conditions now obtaining, a delay seems likely.
obtaining is a form of obtain
obtain, verb: To gain possession of something, or to acquire it by some means or effort. Full entry
- Spelling
- obtain → obtaining: add -ing
Use it in a sentence
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