Obtaining , coming from the Latin word obtentio , is the act and result of obtaining : achieve, conquer, acquire. This concept is used in different ways depending on the context.
Many times the idea of achievement is used in relation to obtaining a title or trophy or achieving a goal . For example: “Stephen Curry's team celebrated obtaining a new NBA ring” , “Obtaining the championship was celebrated by thousands of people in the streets of the city” , “We dreamed of obtaining the cup, but Unfortunately we could not meet the objective.”
The notion of obtaining also refers to accessing something or becoming the owner or creditor of a certain element . Obtaining citizenship , in this framework, refers to completing the formal steps to receive documentation proving a new nationality.
Typically, obtaining citizenship can be done by naturalization or by option. The State that grants nationality usually requires certain requirements, such as having a certain number of years of residence in the country or passing an exam.
Obtaining can also refer to generating or collecting something . Obtaining electrical energy , in this sense, can be achieved through wind energy or solar energy, to mention two possibilities. These energies can be converted into electricity.
To obtain a DNA sample , meanwhile, you can use saliva, urine, blood, semen, sweat, hair, cut nails, teeth or bones. Starting from these elements, we have access to the person's DNA .
We can say that obtaining is one of those words that is especially difficult to define because, although it is an action that we perform daily, it is such a broad and context-dependent concept that it is practically impossible to summarize it in a sentence. One of its main features, precisely, is that it can serve to talk about the objective of an extensive and arduous process , as occurs with a university study that aims to obtain a degree , or a natural issue that occurs passively in many organisms, such as obtaining oxygen from different sources, air being the main one.
In these and other cases we can appeal to the verb obtain to give our speech a more active character: «I have finally obtained the title , after so many years of effort» , «Thanks to the functioning of our respiratory system, the lungs obtain the oxygen they It is present in the air .
Note that it is more natural to say that a living being obtains something than to attribute this action to an organ of the body; Therefore, in such a case we could paraphrase the second sentence using the term obtaining : "The obtaining of oxygen takes place in the lungs."
Below we will see a short list of synonyms for the word obtaining , most of which are more common in everyday speech: achievement, attainment, profit, acquisition, benefit and product . We could say that achievement is one of the most similar, one of those that most faithfully reflects or summarizes its meaning; However, its use in everyday speech is even less frequent.
If defining obtaining is relatively difficult, finding an antonym for this term is an almost impossible task. This happens with many others, and it occurs because its meaning does not present a reality with two poles, which admits two possible states, but rather an action or situation that, if it does not take place , does not leave a gap . For example: an antonym of success is failure , but if we do not obtain a title, for certain reasons, it is not taken away from us, but we continue in the initial state.