Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
achieve [uh-cheev] SynonymsExamplesWord Origin verb (used with object), a·chieved, a·chiev·ing.
- 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), a·chieved, a·chiev·ing.
- to bring about an intended result; accomplish some purpose or effect.
Origin of achieve 1275–1325; Middle English acheven Old French achever to finish, from phrase a chef to (the) head (i.e., to conclusion). See chief Related formsa·chiev·a·ble, adjectivea·chiev·er, nounout·a·chieve, verb (used with object), out·a·chieved, out·a·chiev·ingpre·a·chieved, adjectivesu·per·a·chiev·er, nounun·a·chiev·a·ble, adjectiveun·a·chieved, adjectivewell-a·chieved, adjectiveSynonyms for achieve 1. consummate, complete; effect, execute; realize, reach. 2. realize, win.Synonym study 1. See do1. Examples from the Web for unachieved Historical Examples of unachieved
They were sorry to go, because the purpose of the campaign was unachieved; still more sorry to part from their dead comrades.
Michael MacDonagh
He who has made it is looked up to as an authority, and it remains with many the unachieved ambition of their lives.
Alfred Russell Wallace
And all this I suffered until the burden of unachieved desire grew intolerable.
George Moore
There will always be enough of the unachieved at table to furnish balanced rations.
Robert Haven Schauffler
Mens sana in corpore sano—animaque integra is an ideal as sound as it is unachieved.
Stephen Sydney Reynolds
British Dictionary definitions for unachieved achieve verb (tr)
- to bring to a successful conclusion; accomplish; attain
- to gain as by hard work or effortto achieve success
Derived Formsachievable, adjectiveachiever, nounWord Origin for achieve 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 unachieved achieve 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.