acquisitive
adjective
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While acquisitive is a useful synonym of the likes of greedy and avaricious, it's relatively unknown compared to its more popular lexical relations, acquire and acquisition. The former of that pair is most often used to mean "to get as one's own," as in "skills acquired through practice"; the latter refers either to the act of acquiring something, as in "the acquisition of skills," or to something or someone acquired or gained, as in "the museum's recent acquisitions." All three have as their ultimate source the Latin word acquīrere, meaning "to acquire." While acquire and acquisition have both been in use since the 15th century, acquisitive is a bit younger. The word has a somewhat rare use meaning "capable of acquiring" that dates to the late 16th century, but its "greedy" meaning dates only to the early 19th century.
Synonyms
Examples of acquisitive in a Sentence
Jennifer Creery, Fortune Europe, 21 Mar. 2024
Mews has also been decidedly acquisitive, buying eight other companies to date.
—Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 4 Mar. 2024
Its Tokyo bosses seem excited by the prospects, but both organic and acquisitive growth will be tricky.
—Patrick Frater, Variety, 1 Mar. 2024
Mashups are now constructed with no real deliberateness but as part of a steady acquisitive spree through the videos that crowd our screens.
—Thomas Mallon, The New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2023
However, his acquisitive wife, who had no such scruples, accepted in his stead, and this became the Summer White House.
—Martin Filler, The New York Review of Books, 9 Nov. 2023
This uncanny permanence fails to spark the acquisitive impulse in us.
—Meghan O'Gieblyn, WIRED, 16 Aug. 2023
That streaming future is the one piece of the puzzle where Iger still appears acquisitive.
—Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 July 2023
The film casts a cynical side-eye at the acquisitive ethos of the Reagan ’80s, told with a hypnotic sense of style.
—Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'acquisitive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near acquisitive
Cite this Entry
“Acquisitive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acquisitive. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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acquisitive
adjective
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