acquest

A person's acquest includes the house they built and the land they cultivated.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Property acquired by one's own effort: "acquest" refers to possessions or wealth that a person earns or obtains through their own labor, rather than by inheritance or gift.
   • Legal term: In law, "acquest" specifically denotes property acquired during marriage by the joint or individual efforts of the spouses, which is subject to division upon divorce or death, as opposed to separate property inherited before marriage.

Usage Examples

• General sense:

  • The young entrepreneur's acquest included a thriving business and a comfortable home. (Property earned through personal work.)
  • He proudly displayed his acquests, from the vintage car to the art collection. (Items obtained by his own effort.)

• Legal sense:

  • Under community property laws, all acquests made during the marriage are shared equally. (Property acquired by the couple while married.)
  • The court determined which assets were acquests and which were separate inheritances. (Distinguishing earned from inherited property.)

Advanced Usage

• "acquest of the mind": intellectual or creative achievements earned through study or invention.

  • The scientist's greatest acquest was the discovery of a new element. (A notable intellectual achievement.)

• "acquest and conquest": in historical legal contexts, property obtained by purchase or gift (acquest) versus property gained by force (conquest).

  • The medieval king divided his lands into acquest and conquest for tax purposes. (Distinction between acquired and conquered territories.)

Variants and Related Words

• Acquire (verb): to gain possession of something through effort or purchase.

  • She worked hard to acquire new skills. (To obtain through effort.)

• Acquisition (noun): the act of obtaining something, or the thing obtained.

  • The company's latest acquisition was a smaller tech firm. (The thing obtained.)

• Acquisitive (adj): eager to acquire possessions.

  • His acquisitive nature led him to collect rare books. (Desiring to acquire.)

Synonyms

• Earnings: money or property gained through work.
• Gain: an increase in wealth or resources.
• Procurement: the act of obtaining something.

Related Idioms

• By one's own hand: through personal effort (similar to the concept of acquest).

  • He built his fortune by his own hand, not through inheritance. (Through personal work.)

• Earn one's keep: to work in order to receive necessities.

  • She earned her keep by helping on the farm. (Obtained through labor.)