obtain

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The Word of the Day for July 31 is: 

obtain   \ub-TAYN \   verb
    *1 : to gain or attain usually by planned action or effort 
     2 : to be generally recognized or established : prevail 

Example sentence:
     The experiment was designed to obtain more accurate data about weather 
patterns.

Did you know?
     "Obtain," which was adopted into English in the 15th century, comes to us 
via Anglo-French from the Latin "obtinere," meaning "to take hold of." 
"Obtinere" was itself formed by combination of "ob-," meaning "in the way," and 
the verb "tenere," meaning "to hold." If you have the kind of memory that holds 
on to etymological sources, you will likely remember that we featured another 
descendent of "tenere" just days ago. For those whose memories have a less 
tenacious grip, we'll remind you now that the featured word was "untenable" 
(and that "tenacious" was also mentioned as a relative). 

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. 




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