Roger Manvell
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If you have difficulty choosing whether to use obtain or attain in a sentence, don’t worry, we get it. Both can mean “to get” or “to acquire,” and in some situations can be used synonymously, but one or the other might be more appropriate depending on what is being acquired and how. One clue is their respective etymologies: obtain comes to us via Anglo-French from the Latin verb obtinēre, meaning “to hold on to, possess,” while attain’s Anglo-French ancestor is ateindre, meaning “to reach” or “to accomplish.” Accordingly, obtain is usually the word used when you are acquiring, by planned effort, a tangible object—something you can hold. “We are having trouble obtaining the supplies we need” sounds natural, for example, while “Have you attained the sugar and flour I asked for?” does not. Reflecting its roots (and also implying effort), attain is often used in the same way as achieve, as in “After decades of hard work she attained her goal of earning a PhD.” Of course, one can also obtain intangible things, such as power or information, so consider this advice something to hold onto and consider when the moment arises—you needn’t cling to it.
Examples of obtain in a Sentence
Christina Dugan Ramirez, FOXNews.com, 29 Oct. 2025
Robertson cited a 2017 analysis showing that nearly 60% of graduate students could have obtained a private loan at a lower interest rate than any available federal loan.
—Kff Health News, Oc Register, 29 Oct. 2025
Alanna Gold, who joined Selling Sunset in season 8, obtained her license during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
—Samantha Stutsman, PEOPLE, 29 Oct. 2025
Recently, Dave Myers, who’s running against Rainey in Ward 3, sent out mailers, which were obtained by The Star, and claimed that Aldridge, Reynolds, Persson and Rainey want to build apartments all over western Shawnee.
—Taylor O'Connor, Kansas City Star, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for obtain
Cite this Entry
“Obtain.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obtain. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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obtain
verb
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