Achieve
to bring to a successful end; carry through; accomplish:
The police crackdown on speeders achieved its purpose.
to get or attain by effort; gain; obtain:
to achieve victory.
to bring about an intended result; accomplish some purpose or effect.
Contemporary Examples
It means going the extra mile needed to achieve internal logical consistency.
The AJC’s Next Logical Step: Condemn Israeli Settlements Sigal Samuel June 20, 2013
What we clearly disagree on is the question of how—or whether—this issue fits into efforts to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Lara Friedman Responds on Jewish Refugees Lara Friedman August 9, 2012
The objective is nothing less than “to achieve a new type of political life in the country.”
Mousavi’s New Revolutionary Manifesto Gary Sick June 20, 2009
So we should do everything we can to protect the whistleblowers, but we need better people in government to achieve that.
Ron Paul Hits Reddit The Daily Beast August 21, 2013
Flynn sees a loud, proud, and socially unacceptable atheism as the best chance to achieve Kurtz’s declared goals.
The Atheist Recruiting Machine Lauren Sandler November 2, 2009
Historical Examples
They should recognize for themselves when they achieve success in learning.
Sequential Problem Solving Fredric Lozo
As already seen, we ask for difficulties to conquer, successes to achieve.
The Conquest of Fear Basil King
Even if we take no formal steps, spiritual or corporeal, some rule of life we must achieve for ourselves.
Science and Morals and Other Essays Bertram Coghill Alan Windle
It was for him to set out on a purpose, and achieve or fail.
The Law-Breakers Ridgwell Cullum
We do not dare to say that they will utterly fail, or that what they achieve is utterly valueless.
The Theistic Conception of the World B. F. (Benjamin Franklin) Cocker
verb (transitive)
to bring to a successful conclusion; accomplish; attain
to gain as by hard work or effort: to achieve success
v.
early 14c., from Old French achever (12c.) “to finish, accomplish, complete,” from phrase à chef (venir) “at an end, finished,” or Vulgar Latin *accapare, from Late Latin ad caput (venire); both the French and Late Latin phrases meaning literally “to come to a head,” from stem of Latin caput “head” (see capitulum).
The Lat. caput, towards the end of the Empire, and in Merov[ingian] times, took the sense of an end, whence the phrase ad caput venire, in the sense of to come to an end …. Venire ad caput naturally produced the Fr. phrase venir à chef = venir à bout. … From this chief, O.Fr. form of chef (q.v.) in sense of term, end, comes the Fr. compd. achever = venir à chef, to end, finish. [Auguste Brachet, “An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language,” transl. G.W. Kitchin, Oxford, 1878]
Related: Achieved; achieving.
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the social position a person gains as a result of personal effort.
- Achievement
something accomplished, especially by superior ability, special effort, great courage, etc.; a great or heroic deed: his remarkable achievements in art. act of ; attainment or accomplishment: the achievement of one’s object. Heraldry. the full display of the armorial bearings of an individual or corporation. Contemporary Examples In fact, all tests are achievement tests—they reveal […]
- Achievement age
the level of educational development of an individual as determined by an achievement test and based on a comparison of the examinee’s score with the average score of individuals of the same chronological age. noun (psychol) the age at which a child should be able to perform a standardized test successfully Compare mental age achievement […]
- Achievement quotient
achievement age divided by chronological age, usually expressed as a multiple of 100. The achievement quotient of a ten-year-old child whose achievement age equals that of the average twelve-year-old is 1.2, or 120. Abbreviation: AQ. noun (psychol) a measure of ability derived by dividing an individual’s achievement age by his actual age AQ achievement quotient […]
- Achievement test
a test designed to measure the knowledge or proficiency of an individual in something that has been learned or taught, as arithmetic or typing. Contemporary Examples Prior to kindergarten, the children participating all took some variety of intelligence test or achievement test. The New Child-Testing Craze Po Bronson, Ashley Merryman February 16, 2010 noun (psychol) […]