achieve

[uh-cheev] /əˈtʃiv/

verb (used with object), achieved, achieving.

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.

verb (used without object), achieved, achieving.

to bring about an intended result; accomplish some purpose or effect.

Origin

1275-1325; Middle English acheven < Old French achever to finish, from phrase a chef to (the) head (i.e., to conclusion). See chief

Related forms

achievable, adjective

achiever, noun

outachieve, verb (used with object), outachieved, outachieving

preachieved, adjective

superachiever, noun

unachievable, adjective

unachieved, adjective

well-achieved, adjective

Synonyms

1. consummate, complete; effect, execute; realize, reach. See do¹ . 2. realize, win.

Examples from the web for achieve

But his administration has done little to achieve that goal, which is inadequate to begin with.
They find delight in accomplishment as they achieve their goal of a toy out of reach.
Many people struggle mightily to achieve and are of course disappointed by less successful outcomes.
In a strange way, my failures in the academic world had helped me achieve that goal on a bigger stage.
But if it is to achieve the goal of development over the next decade, more reform will be needed.
Yet the chancellor's powers to achieve this goal are limited.
The ultimate goal is to get the bird into orbit, but they have a number of flight milestones to achieve.
She put a clothespin on her nose and worked to bring her voice down a register, to achieve clarity and depth.
E-content sales, meanwhile, are expected to achieve an annual rate of $400 million by the end of the fiscal year in April.
It is what you 'want' to acchieve that is making your brain adapt in order to be able to achieve it.

British Dictionary definitions for achieve

achieve

/əˈtʃiːv/

verb (transitive)

to bring to a successful conclusion; accomplish; attain

to gain as by hard work or effort: to achieve success

Derived Forms

achievable, adjective
achiever, noun

Word Origin

C14: from Old French achever to bring to an end, from the phrase a chef to a head, to a conclusion

Word Origin and History for achieve

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.