The general acquisition meaning is the act of getting or gaining something, or the thing you have gained. When a library buys a rare map, the purchase is an acquisition, and so is the map sitting in its display case.
In business news the word most often means one company buying control of another. In schools and research it can mean learning, as in language acquisition. This guide explains each sense in plain English, with a simple worked example of a company deal.
Entry at a glance
Meaning
Getting something; a thing obtained; the purchase of one company by anotherPart of speech
Noun (plural: acquisitions)Pronunciation
ak-wuh-ZISH-uhnWord forms
acquire (verb), acquired (adjective), acquisitive (adjective, eager to get things)Origin
Latin acquisitio, from acquirere, "to get in addition"; English from the late 1300sOpposite
loss, sale, disposal, divestment (in business)Register
Formal to neutral; very common in business, law and education
Five senses of the acquisition meaning in English
To define acquisition across contexts, sort it into five related uses:
- The act of getting something: "the acquisition of new equipment took three months".
- Something you have got: "the museum's latest acquisition is a bronze statue", "my new bicycle is my proudest acquisition".
- Buying a company: one business takes control of another, usually by buying most or all of its shares or assets.
- Learning a skill or knowledge: language acquisition, skill acquisition.
- Gaining customers or land: customer acquisition in marketing, land acquisition by a government for roads or railways.
Acquisition in sentences
- The startup's acquisition by a larger firm made its early staff very happy.
- Children's language acquisition is fastest in the first few years of life.
- The team's newest acquisition, a fast bowler from another state, made his debut on Saturday.
- Our biggest cost this quarter was customer acquisition through online ads.
- The court reviewed whether the state's acquisition of the farmland had been fair.
How a business acquisition works: a simple example
In company terms, an acquisition happens when a buyer, the acquirer, gains control of a target company. Control usually means owning more than half of its voting shares, though many deals buy all of them.
Before signing, the buyer normally checks the target's accounts, contracts and risks, a step called due diligence. If the target's board rejects the offer and the buyer goes straight to shareholders, the deal is called a hostile takeover.
Merger vs acquisition, and other confusions
| Term | What happens |
|---|---|
| Acquisition | A buyer takes charge of a target firm and runs it |
| Merger | Two companies combine into one, often presented as equals |
| Takeover | Close to acquisition; often used when the target did not seek the deal |
| Divestment | Selling off a business or asset, the reverse move |
| Procurement | Buying goods and services for a business, not buying companies |
People often say M&A, short for mergers and acquisitions, for the whole field. Also, do not confuse acquisition with accusation, a claim that someone did wrong. Only the sounds overlap; the meanings do not.
Using the word: grammar and pairings
Acquisition can be countable ("two acquisitions this year") or uncountable ("the acquisition of wealth"). It often takes of for what is gained and by for who gains it: "the acquisition of the brand by a rival".
Common pairings: make an acquisition, complete an acquisition, a recent acquisition, a strategic acquisition, acquisition cost, talent acquisition (an HR term for recruiting). The verb is acquire, and an acquisitive person is keen to gain possessions, which can sound slightly critical.
Seeking and adding: the Latin behind acquisition
Speakers of Middle English picked up acquisition in the late 1300s, via Old French, from Latin acquisitio. The Latin verb acquirere joined ad- (to, toward) and quaerere (to seek). So the old picture is seeking something and adding it to what you have. About a century later it also came to mean the thing obtained. The same quaerere root sits inside query and inquire.
For more money and company vocabulary, see business and finance terms, including monopoly and portfolio.
Frequently asked questions
What is the meaning of acquisition in simple words?
Getting something, or the thing you got. It can be a purchase, a new skill, a new customer or a whole company bought by another.
What does acquisition mean in business?
It means one company buying enough of another company, usually its shares or assets, to control it. The buyer is the acquirer and the bought company is the target.
Merger or acquisition: how do they differ?
In an acquisition one company clearly buys and controls the other. In a merger, two companies agree to combine into a single new or continuing company, often as partners. In practice the line can be blurry.
What is language acquisition?
It is the process of learning a language, especially the natural way young children pick up their first language by hearing and using it, and how people later gain a second one.
How do you pronounce acquisition?
Say ak-wuh-ZISH-uhn. The c is silent as part of the cq sound, and the stress falls on ZISH.
What is customer acquisition cost?
A marketing measure: the total spent on winning new customers divided by the number of new customers gained in that period. If you spend 10,000 rupees and gain 50 customers, the cost is 200 rupees each.