Achieve

//əˈt͡ʃiːv// verb

verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To succeed in something, now especially in academic performance. intransitive
  2. 2
    to gain with effort wordnet
  3. 3
    To carry out successfully; to accomplish. transitive

    "achieve goals"

  4. 4
    To conclude, finish, especially successfully. obsolete, transitive

    "Full many Countreyes they did overronne, From the uprising to the setting Sunne, And many hard adventures did atchieve […]"

  5. 5
    To obtain, or gain (a desired result, objective etc.), as the result of exertion; to succeed in gaining; to win. transitive

    "I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    To conclude, to turn out. intransitive, obsolete
  2. 7
    To obtain (a material thing). literary, transitive

    "He hath achieved a maid That paragons description."

Synonyms

All synonyms
accomplishaccomplishattainreachcompassacquire

Example

More examples

"You cannot achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd."

Etymology

From Middle English achieven, acheven, from Anglo-Norman achever, Old French achever, achiever et al., apparently from Late Latin *accapāre, from ad (“to”) + caput (“head”) + -ō (verbal suffix), or alternatively a construction based on Old French chief (“head”). Compare Catalan, Occitan, Portuguese and Spanish acabar, French achever.

Related phrases

carry outturn out

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.