procure
/procure/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb (Transitive):
- To obtain or acquire something, especially with care, effort, or special means. This often implies overcoming some difficulty or using specific methods to get something that is not easily available.
- To bring about or cause something to happen or exist.
Verb (Intransitive, Archaic/Legal):
- To act as a procurer; to provide someone, typically for sexual services. This usage is now rare, formal, or specific to legal contexts.
Usage
- As a transitive verb, "procure" is followed by a direct object (the thing obtained or caused).
- It often carries a formal or business-like tone.
- The intransitive meaning related to procuring sexual partners is highly specific and largely obsolete in general use.
Examples
- Transitive Verb (Obtain):
- The manager managed to procure the necessary funding for the project.
- It was difficult to procure fresh fruit during the winter months.
- Transitive Verb (Cause):
- His careless remarks procured him a great deal of trouble.
- Intransitive Verb (Archaic/Legal):
- The law forbids anyone to procure for prostitution.
Advanced Usage
- Legal/Formal Contexts: "Procure" is common in legal, business, and formal writing to mean "obtain by formal means."
- The company procured a contract with the government.
- "Procure for": To obtain something on behalf of someone else.
- Can you procure tickets for the concert for our group?
Variants and Related Words
- Procurable (adj): Able to be obtained or acquired.
- The spare parts are no longer procurable.
- Procurement (n): The action of obtaining or procuring something, especially for an organization.
- He works in the department of procurement.
- Procurer (n): A person who procures, especially one who procures sexual partners for others (an archaic or legal term).
Synonyms
- Acquire: To come into possession or ownership of.
- Secure: To obtain something, often with a sense of making it safe or certain.
- Obtain: To get or acquire something.
- Attain: To succeed in achieving something after effort.
Antonyms
- Relinquish: To voluntarily give up or let go of.
- Forfeit: To lose or give up something as a penalty.
- Lose: To be deprived of or cease to have.
Phrasal Verbs / Related Constructions
- Procure from: To obtain something from a specific source.
- We procured the materials from a local supplier.
Idioms / Fixed Phrases
- To procure someone's services: To formally arrange for or hire someone's professional work.
- We have procured the services of a leading architect.
- To procure by unlawful means: A legal phrase indicating something was obtained illegally.
- The evidence was procured by unlawful means and was inadmissible in court.
Verb
- arrange for sexual partners for others
- get by special effort
- He procured extra cigarettes even though they were rationed